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EVERYDAY PROBLEMS IN TEACHING 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/everydayproblemsOOoshe 



EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 
IN TEACHING 



/V/^'SHEA 



M 

Professor of Education, The University of Wisconsin 



isa 



INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



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Copyright 1912 
The Bobbs-Merrill Company 






PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & CO. 

BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTER^S 

BROOKLYN. N. Y^ 



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BOOKS BY M. V. O'SHEA 

Aspects of Mental Economy 
Education as Adjustment 
Dynamic Factors in Education 
Linguistic Development and Education 
Social Development and Education 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 

The importance o£ good order — The methods of an earlier 
day — The factors which have produced a new regime in re- 
spect to school government — Problems in securing and hold- 
ing attention — The influence of the eye upon a pupil's atten- 
tion — Cultivating distractions — A feasible and effective remedy 
— ^A potent cause of dullness as well as disorder in the school- 
room — Frequent relaxation periods absolutely imperative — A 
concrete instance of a disorderly school — The teacher's relax- 
ation — The stormiest season of the school year — Bring pupils 
by degrees to the work of the school in the autumn — The 
problem of vacation — Physical defects and irritants as causes 
of dullness and disorder. 

CHAPTER H 

PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 

The "spoiled" child — The "spoiled" child is hardly ever a 
happy one — Higher and lower tendencies in human life — 
Short-sightedness in the training of children — How animals 
are "broken" — Children must be let alone more than they now 
are — The favorite pupil — New times bring new problems in 
training — The elimination of masculinity in the training of 
children — Hypertrophy of our sensibilities — Corporal punish- 
ment — Soft methods in training — No cure-all in discipline — 
The charlatan in ethical training — From the pupil's standpoint 
—Positive methods in discipline. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER III 

FAIR PLAY IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM 

A typical case requiring correction — Securing the coopera- 
tion of pupils in cases of discipline — Pupils should not be chal- 
lenged to a contest of wits in discipline — Group loyalty — Gain- 
ing the respect of pupils — Why pupils lose their respect for a 
teacher — Gaining the assistance of capable pupils — School-room 
injustice breeds disrespect — Typical cases — Feelings of success, 
not of failure — As a rule, correction should be individual and 
private — It should also be quiet — The problem of communica- 
tion in the school-room — The impulse to communicate — Out- 
side of school the child is encouraged to communicate freely 
— The most effective way to control the evils of communica- 
tion — Devices for suppressing communication. 

CHAPTER IV 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 

Necessity the spur to clear thinking — The supreme test of a 
good method — The test applied to a history lesson — Formal 
exactness rather than effective thinking — Historical ideas that 
relate to every-day life — Lack of effective thinking in civil gov- 
ernment — Developing clear thinking by a dift'erent method of 
teaching— Thinking straight on the subject of taxation— Trac- 
ing governmental relations in social groups — Clear thinking in 
arithmetic — Mere verbal reading of problems — ^Verbal study 
of weights and measures as an example — Clear thinking and 
useful problems in arithmetic — Making problems relate to the 
pupil's actual needs and experience — A concrete instance illus- 
trating the vital teaching of arithmetic — ^Useful problems for 
the city pupil — The cure for inaccurate thinking in this field 
— The evil of inaccuracy in school work — Self-correction of 
inaccurate work. 



. TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK — (Concluded) 

Clear thinking and a good memory — An example of obscure 
teaching — Attacking the problem in another way — An illustra- 
tion from geography — The method in mathematical geography 
— Teaching facts- without binding them together in causal re- 
lations — A plausible but erroneous principle of teaching—: 
Geography a good subject for effective teaching — Teaching 
pupils to become self-helpful — An illustration of a failure to 
observe the principle of self-activity — Making it unnecessary 
for pupils to use their experience — Home study by pupils and 
training in self-helpfulness — The typical parent's method of 
"helping** the child — ^An illustration of bad methods in home 
instruction — Teaching to satisfy formal requirements instead 
of to train a pupil in self-helpfulness. 

CHAPTER VI 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 

Spelling as a typical technical subject — A practical test — 
Ability to use words the true test — Shall we have spelling lists ? 
— How shall we choose words for spelling? — Harmful drill in 
spelling — When the value of drill ceases — An error in teach- 
ing spelling — One source of confusion in teaching — Syllabica- 
tion in spelling — Dangers to be avoided in the analysis of 
words — Evil habits of study must be guarded against — Waste- 
ful and ineffective methods of preparing lessons — Auditory- 
familiarity in spelling — Facility in manual execution; a lesson 
from abroad — The change made in one's style according to 
the needs of expression — An illustration of exalting technique 
above content — Instruction in technique — Too great emphasis 
upon technique may lead to nervous overstrain — Developing 
the ideas of lightness and rapidity in the place of power and 
effort. 



I ' TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE — (Concluded) 

An illustration from instruction in music — Execution in sing- 
ing — Elementary facts of technique — Development of an ap- 
preciation of rhythm — General motor before special vocal ex- 
ecution — The child's interest in action songs — One reason why 
singing is often formal and mechanical — First steps in teach- 
ing a novice to read music — The relation between reading lin- 
guistic as compared with musical symbols — We must begin 
with the largest unities possible without going beyond the pu- 
pil's ability to execute readily — Reading musical S3rmbols at 
sight — The value of the simplest musical elements — While em- 
phasis is put upon the higher unities, the lower ones must not 
be slighted — An illustration from the teaching of drawing — Re- 
production vs. representation — Automatic facility in arithmetic 
— Relation of reasoning to automatic facility — Applying princi- 
ples until their right application becomes "second nature" — 
Danger of over-emphasizing analysis. 

CHAPTER VIII 

TEACHING THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 

How the child gets the meaning of words — The chief dis- 
tinction between the child and the adult in attending to ob- 
jects and situations — When true learning begins — Acquisition 
of meanings by the learning of dejfinitions — Fundamental de- 
fects in dictionary definitions — Words must be learned in their 
contextual relations — The social basis for language learning 
— The motive for requiring the art of expression — A sugges- 
tion for the teacher of language — Unconventional language — 
What is objectionable in one section may be acceptable in an- 
other — Specimen phrases trying to acquire respectability — Con- 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

servative people resist new styles in speech as in manners or 
dress — The unconventional speech of to-day may become the 
conventional speech of to-morrow — The attitude of the teacher 
toward the use of slang — Naturalness in expression — Concern- 
ing the teaching of expression — A typical instance of affecta- 
tion in expression — An instance of naturalness in expression 
— Waste in learning selections for recitation — Appreciation of 
meaning as an aid to memory — An experiment in memorizing. 

CHAPTER IX 

TENDENCIES OF NOVICES IN TEACHING 

Some typical defects in teaching — Special and technical work 
too early — "Shooting over the heads" of pupils — Spiritless 
teaching and the causes therefor — Vital vs. formal teaching — 
Narrowness of view — Inaccurate knowledge — Failure to make 
pupils self -active — Dynamic vs. static attitudes — Appropriate 
reaction is the thing — The teacher must not be neutral in his 
class — The- need of effective lecturing — The quiz-master — 
Making formal rules cover too many cases — The teacher who 
lacks authority — The imperious teacher — Undue haste in the 
class-room — Humor in the school-room — Cultivating an ap- 
preciation of the humorous. 

CHAPTER X 

THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 

A new educational experiment station — A home-maker's 
course — A home atmosphere — Education for training merely 
— Vital studies arouse interest — Spread of the movement for 
vital education — A serious defect in domestic science instruc- 
tion — A curriculum based on discipHne — Does algebra, as an 
example, train the mind for all needs ?— Appreciation of 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

changing phenomena— The study of foreign languages— Train- 
ing in the humanities— A course for the girl of to-morrow— 
The value of history for the girl — The study of nature — Vo- 
cational training. 

EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 
REFERENCES FOR READING 



PREFACE 

' The character and purpose of this book may be 
best indicated by describing in a word or two how 
it has been developed. For a number of years I have 
been accustomed to write out a rather detailed ac- 
count of examples of effective teaching or the re- 
verse which I have observed in any department of 
education, from the kindergarten to the university. 
During this period I have had opportunity to inspect 
teaching in many sections of the country, and in a 
variety of schools, with the result that I have accu- 
mulated a considerable number of instances of actual 
school work, with comments thereupon ; and I have 
been able to test the value of the methods employed 
by actual trial upon a group of children whose train- 
ing has been committed to my care. This volume is 
composed mainly of the more typical and practical 
of these concrete examples of teaching, together 
with discussions of the principles involved. The 
treatment throughout is based almost wholly upon 
the description of typical lessons, given in sufficient 
detail to indicate the aim in each one, and the method 
of attaining it. 

In respect to style, it has seemed to me desirable 
to use rather simple sentences for the most part. 
When one is elaborating theory without regard to 
immediate application, complex sentential construe- 



PREFACE 

tion will serve his purpose best. But when one is 
aiming to interest the practical teacher, his sentences 
will probably have the best effect if they are not very 
intricate. Involved sentence structure suggests ab- 
sorption, with inhibition of action. But the teacher 
must have an active relation toward the problems of 
the school- room ; and a style that will stimulate dy- 
namic attitudes will undoubtedly achieve the best re- 
sults. If one were writing for philosophic students 
he would, of course, employ a style different from 
the one adopted in this volume. 

For the purpose of influencing practice most ef- 
fectively, it seems to me one must make frequent 
pauses in the discussion of any theme, so that when 
the practitioner has appreciated a given point he may 
proceed at once to test it or to apply it. Then he 
may come back the following day or week without 
feeling that he must start at the beginning in order 
to comprehend the next point. The practical teacher 
ought not to have to go entirely through a book be- 
fore he discovers what are the principles to be ap- 
plied. This would be quite proper for a student 
who is interested in gaining only a theoretical view 
of a situation, which sometime later he may be able 
to work out in its concrete bearings. But in this 
book the needs of the philosophical student pure and 
simple have been taken account of only in indicating 
how a given theory of teaching may be applied in 
specific, concrete instances. 

While a strictly theoretical treatment of teaching 
is not likely to be of interest to the practitioner, and 
not apt to influence his action, nevertheless concrete 



PREFACE 

instances should be at least loosely unified under 
large principles of method. To illustrate: I have 
discussed a number of examples of teaching under 
the general heading, "Teaching Pupils to Think." 
While it is not necessary for the reader to go en- 
tirely through this chapter in order to appreciate the 
point of view vi^hich is developed, and while he 
might stop in a dozen places and test the principles 
presented, still all the points made relate to the gen- 
eral problem of teaching so as to develop an origi- 
nal as contrasted with a mnemonic type of mind. 
And what is true of this chapter is true of most of 
the chapters in the book. 

In this volume the point of view is maintained 
that effective method requires that the pupil work 
out problems for himself. I have endeavored to ob- 
serve this doctrine by giving a number of Exercises 
and Problems requiring the testing of each principle 
developed, and the application of it in a variety of 
ways. 

In the appropriate place I have given lists of refer- 
ences relating to the principles developed in each 
chapter. I have aimed in these lists to suggest books 
and articles easily accessible to most teachers, and 
written from the standpoint of contemporary educa- 
tional thought. In the index I have sought to analyze 
the entire material of the book, and to indicate, 
either by direct or by cross reference, every point 
considered in any chapter. 

It is a pleasure to be able to say that I have fre- 
quently discussed the various principles presented 
in this volume with my assistants in the University 



PREFACE 

of Wisconsin, Charles D. Bohannon, William A. 
Cook, Edith E. Hoyt, and Guy F. Wells, all^ of 
whom are thorough students of modern education, 
and who have had extensive and varied experience 
in practical teaching. In many ways I have profited 
by their good judgment and assistance. 

M. V. O'Shea. 
The University of Wisconsin. 



EVERYDAY PROBLEMS IN TEACHING 



EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 
IN TEACHING 

CHAPTER I 

PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 

It is safe to say that the majority of teachers go 
into their schools every September worrying more 
The importance of about one particular problem 
good order than all others combined ; and 

this is the problem of government in the class-room. 
Probably nine out of ten trustees and members of 
boards of education esteem good order more highly 
than anything else in teaching. In some communi- 
ties the only school topic that is discussed is the or- 
der which the teacher keeps. He is regarded as a 
success just in the measure that he can make the 
children "mind", or "toe the mark". Perhaps this is 
as it should be, for! "order is Heaven's first law"; 
and it must be the first rule of the school, as most 
people think. I 

In a very real sense, good order is absolutely es- 
I 



2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

sential to a healthy tone in a school, or anywhere 
else, for that matter. It requires that people, young 
and old, must so control themselves that all can per- 
form effectively the tasks in hand. When a group of 
persons are out of order, they can not pull together; 
they interfere with one another, and both time and 
energy are wasted. Moreover, in the case of the 
young, bad habits may be formed which may later 
make it impossible for them to adapt themselves to 
the laws and rules of the society in which they must 
live. So it is not surprising that parents and school 
officers have placed good order above every other 
consideration in teaching. It shows they have ap- 
preciated, with greater or less clearness, the funda- 
mental necessity in human society, whether in the 
school-room or outside. 

Memory carries the writer back to the district 
school in which he had his first experience in teach- 
Tlie metliods of ing. There was a painted line run- 
an earlier day ning across the floor in the front of 
the room. This had been used by a whole generation 
of predecessors to secure good order in their recita- 
tions. Whenever a class was called, the pupils came 
forward, faced the school, and ''toed" this line, with 
their feet turned out at an angle of 60*^, face to the 
front, and hands held behind the back, except when 
one was needed to hold a book. It v/as the custom 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 3 

then to insist on rigid motor restraint on the part of 
all children in every recitation. The teachers of the 
day gave more attention to government than to in- 
struction proper. They used to have "disciplinary" 
periods, when all pupils were required to sit erect in 
their seats for fifteen minutes at a stretch, with arms 
folded, and every muscle tense. All communication 
during school hours was forbidden. Not even a 
friendly word now and then with one's seat-mate 
was permitted. Quiet and dress-parade behavior 
were constantly striven after. And yet there was a 
great deal of bad order in the schools, of which this 
one was typical. The pupils were fidgety in spite of 
the frequent chastisements; and they seemed often 
to be looking for a chance to start a rebellion. The 
teacher lived in continual fear of revolt in those 
schools; and not infrequently he was compelled to 
make a hasty and unconventional exit from the 
school-room, being aided thereto by the "big boys" 
in the school. At best there was a continual armed 
neutrality in the typical district school of New York 
State twenty-five years ago. 

But to-day there is a very different tone in the 
school referred to. A new school building has re- 
placed the old one, and the painted line has disap- 
peared. One does not hear much now in that com- 
munity about the teacher's keeping order. The pupils 



4 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

have grown better. They are happier in school than 
they used to be, speaking generally, and they have 
a genuinely agreeable time with the teacher. Rarely 
now is a child whipped, whereas, in an earlier day, a 
school without frequent floggings was quite excep- 
tional. Some of the readers of these pages can 
probably bear witness to the fact that during the last 
quarter of a century, nothing short of a revolution 
has taken place in the relations of teachers and pu- 
pils in the rural schools of the United States. 

What has been responsible for this change? It 
has come about as a result, mainly, of two forces 
The factors which acting together. In the first 

have produced a new place, there is now more in- 
regime in respect to teresting teaching of more vi- 
school government tal studies than there was for- 
merly. And in the second place, teachers to-day per- 
mit a greater indulgence of the spontaneous activities 
of pupils than they did formerly. It is believed now 
by most people that good order does not require 
the too rigorous suppression of the impulsive ac- 
tions of the young. There seems to be reason 
in this latter point. I ask a five-year-old to look 
at a pair of stairs, and he is likely to begin going 
through the process of climbing stairs. If I show 
him an engine, he pufTs ; a dog, he barks ; a lion, he 
roars ; and so on ad libitum. What goes in through 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 5 

the senses is apt to run straight to the muscles, so 
that the child whose mind is being actively stimu- 
lated, can not keep "absolutely still" but for very 
brief periods at a time. Speaking generally, the older 
one gets, up to maturity, the more controlled he be- 
comes — the steadier, the better poised, the better be- 
haved. The increase of experience makes him so. 
The secret of it all is that a great blocking system 
gradually gets established in the central nervous sys- 
tem, and in consequence energy may be turned aside 
from special motor routes in ever-increasing quanti- 
ties. 

What, then, is the practical word for discipline? 
First of all, hold the attention of your pupils. The 
moment you lose their attention the energy will flow 
back into their muscles, and you can not make a 
law which will prevent the inevitable "restlessness" 
which will follow. And how can you hold their at- 
tention? Mainly through the vigor, concreteness, 
and liveliness of your teaching. You never saw dis- 
order in a room where there was magnificent teach- 
ing going on. Conversely, you never saw good or- 
der for any length of time where there was weak 
teaching. Put this down as the primal law of good 
order. 

In nine cases out of ten, probably, a pupil who 
does not attend to the activities of the school is sim- 



6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Problems in se- ply dominated for the time being, 
curing and hold- or perhaps permanently, by unre- 
ing attention ^^^^^ ^^^j^^ ^^ thought, or feel- 

ings which are the results of recent experiences. 
Suppose, for instance, you have a class in history, to 
which the pupils come direct from a class in English 
literature. Let us say that the topic for discussion in 
this last class was interesting to all the members, and 
made a deep impression upon them. It stimulated 
their emotions, which, of course, tended to persist 
after the inciting stimuli were removed. The pupils 
come intO' your class, and your teaching does not 
arouse lively feeling, but instead fails to awaken 
much response in either the thought or the emotional 
attitudes of the students. The impressions made in 
the preceding class, having established themselves in 
consciousness, are determining the trend of thought 
of some or all of your pupils. It is a fundamental 
law of human nature that an individual will yield 
to the most persuasive and potent appeals to con- 
sciousness. In no other way could he adjust himself 
to the world in Vv^hich he lives. Sometimes, of 
course, it would be better if he resisted stimuli that 
appealed to him strongly ; but the law is that he can 
not on his own volition make unimpressive, uninter- 
esting, and dull things seem to be of importance. 
This is the task of the teacher. It will not do simply 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 7 

to say : "Give me your attention", or "If you don't 
attend, you must leave the room", or anything of 
the kind. These latter expedients may temporarily 
arouse attitudes which will hold the distracting emo- 
tions in check; but this inhibition will not last long 
if there is nothing else to awaken strong feeling, 
and so to claim the attention. 

There are many details respecting the arrange- 
ment and conduct of a class which tend to favor the 
persistence and domination of interests foreign to 
the work of the hour. If significant noises are made 
anywhere within the hearing of pupils, they will be 
likely to arouse irrelevant trains of thought and 
feeling. Continuous and more or less undifferenti- 
ated noise, as the roar of a waterfall, the sighing 
of the wind, etc., — noise that does not suggest any 
particular past or anticipated experience to pupils, 
is much less distracting than periodical noises which 
awaken curiosity, as of people walking or talking in 
the hall outside the class-room, and the like. Any 
sound or any movement striking on the pupil's 
senses, and which has been associated with some in- 
teresting or vital incident in his life, will be likely 
to shunt him from the concerns of the class-room 
into irrelevant trains of thought. Human nature is 
constructed on this plan, which is carried through 
most completely in the early years. 



8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

There is another source of distraction found in 
many school-rooms. A pupil may sit in his seat hid- 
The influence of den from the view of the teacher 
the eye upon a by heads in front of him. Now, it 
pupil's attention jg g^ simple matter of human na- 
ture that the moment you lose the eye of pupils, you 
release your strongest hold on them. Under such 
circumstances, the chances are that the stimuli you 
are presenting to your class will soon become im- 
potent, and the more interesting experiences outside 
will get the upper hand in their consciousness, with 
the result that their attention will wander. Often 
pupils (usually those who are least strongly at- 
tracted by the work of the class) occupy corners of 
the class-room remote from the teacher, so that his 
personality as revealed through his eye, the timbre 
of his voice, and the changing expressions of his 
features can not play upon their extra-school 
emotions and trains of thought, and hold them in 
check. Of course, if the teacher could make his 
work of such absorbing interest that it would 
awaken profound emotional states, it would hold 
the wandering pupils anyway. But generally the 
new thing one must present in the class-room very 
much needs reinforcement by every possible ex- 
pressional accompaniment of voice and face and eye, 
(which is perhaps the greatest factor in discipline)' 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 9 

and even bodily attitudes, in order that it may cap- 
ture and hold the attention of pupils. 

The coming and going of people in a class-room 
after the work has started is always a source of 
Cultivating confusion. Once the signal has been 
distractions given for beginning the duties of the 
hour, no one should be admitted to the class, except 
on the most urgent business. The practice in some 
schools of allowing any one to enter a class any time 
he pleases is wasteful, and destructive of attentive 
attitudes on the part of pupils. Sometimes princi- 
pals have the habit of sending messages to teachers 
while they are conducting classes, with the inevi- 
table result that a general air of distraction is spread 
throughout the entire school. When a teacher is 
given a message by the janitor, all pupils set to 
work to figure out what it contains. It is safe to 
say that every message a teacher receives during the 
progress of a class wastes at least five minutes of 
the pupil's time ; and it may spoil the whole hour. 

An open door of a class-room may keep an entire 
class in a constant state of distraction, if there is 
any activity whatever going on in the hall without. 
It is inevitable. Groups of adults even are always 
interested in people who come late to meetings, or 
who pass by an open door of the room in which they 
are congregated. It is a law of human nature, as 



lo EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

true of college faculties as of high-school or elemen- 
tary-school pupils — that people who are in action 
about us attract our attention. It is a more or less 
automatic and perhaps instinctive reaction, which 
makes it all the more difficult to control. 

In some schools the doors of the class-rooms are 
provided with glass panels, so that a principal, su- 
perintendent, or visitor may at any moment look in 
to see what is going on. Usually the doors are in 
such a position that the inspector can peer into the 
eyes of the pupils, and the pupils can look at the vis- 
itor, which is exactly what they will do as long as he 
has his face glued to the panel. One sometimes 
hears it said that pupils will easily get accustomed 
to this sort of thing; but the experiences of daily 
life show such a statement to be, as a rule, false. It 
would be entirely justifiable for a teacher to hang 
curtains over the glass panels in the doors of his 
class-room, provided his superiors do not object too 
strenuously. He could certainly do better work by 
eliminating all distracting influences of this char- 
acter. 

The method of seating pupils is often a source of 
distraction in a class-room. Arranging pupils in a 
semicircle so that one member may see the faces of 
the others when they are reciting, greatly favors 
attentive attitudes toward the vv^ork in hand. When a 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT ii 

pupil sits at the rear of the room for an entire hour, 
gazing only at the backs of the heads of his class- 
mates, thus rarely seeing their countenances when 
they are talking, and being remote also from the 
teacher, the chances are he will not give his atten- 
tion long to the duties of the hour. Moreover, 
when a pupil who is not performing can see the ex- 
pressions of the one who is, he receives a constant 
stimulus, which otherwise he would miss, to give 
heed to what is being said. 

Again, when pupils sit next to those of their asso- 
ciates with whom they have lively experiences out- 
side of school, it is probable that these extra-school 
interests will become supreme in consciousness while 
they are in the class-room. The mere physical pres- 
ence of intimate friends stimulates communication 
along the lines of their typical experiences in the 
world. This is important at every stage in life, but 
it is particularly so in the early years. The teacher, 
then, who expects to secure attention from all her 
pupils must devise some plan whereby they may be 
distributed over the room so that cronies will not 
sit within communicating distance of one another. 

It has already been said that a school must be 
kept in order or teaching will be impossible. At the 
A feasible and same time, any attempt at rigid 
effective remedy suppression of communication will 



12 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

aggravate rather than cure the malady. Is there any 
way to harmonize these difficulties? Many teachers 
are solving the problem to-day by a simple and 
wholesome method. In substance it is this: pupils 
are required to apply themselves to the tasks of the 
school for brief periods only; in the primary grades 
not longer than fifteen, or at the outside twenty 
minutes at a time without relaxation. During the 
intervals of three to five minutes, pupils may com- 
municate freely. They may move around as they 
choose, and in a sense be in complete disorder. In 
this way the impulse to communicate is gratified for 
the time being. The experiences of the preceding 
hour are communized, and the children are relieved 
of the tension which otherwise would be difficult if 
not impossible to endure. 

A teacher who has not tried the plan of having 
brief periods of concentrated application, followed 
by short periods of complete relaxation, has not yet 
discovered how best to accomplish the tasks of the 
school, and at the same time to work in harmony 
with the nature of the child. Literally thousands 
of years of experiment in teaching give warrant to 
the proposition that it is impossible to conduct an 
ordinary school by keeping young children rigidly 
restrained for an hour and a half at a time. When 
the attempt is made to do this, it is apt to result in 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 13 

conflict between teacher and pupils, to the disadvan- 
tage of both. If any reader who has not tried the 
plan suggested will do so, let him have his pupils 
first clearly understand that while they are engaged 
in study they must apply themselves with all their 
energy, and then there will be opportunity for per- 
fectly free play and social intercourse. We could 
accomplish more in every way — in the intellectual 
advancement of pupils, in avoiding conflict between 
teacher and pupils, in forming good habits of study 
in the school-room, and in making the school a hap- 
pier place for children — if we could work along the 
lines indicated above. 

Relaxation periods are b'f value, not only in re- 
ducing the evil of irrelevant communication, but 
A potent cause of ^^^^7 ^^^ chiefly of service in re- 
dullness as well leasing nervous tension, which is 
as disorder in the always a source of trouble in a 
school-room school-room. A child who is in a 

tense condition usually makes a dull and disorderly 
pupil. iWhen the majority of the pupils in a room 
become tense, it is a w^lljiHgtrliopeless task to do 
any effective work with them. / For one thing, they 
become restless ; they move about aimlessly and im- 
pulsively to relieve this tension. One can not "sit 
still" for any considerable period when his muscles 
are constrained. Nature urges him to conserve his 



14 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

nervous energy by changing his position, with the 
result that his tensions wih generally be released. 
Observe an audience that has been attentive for an 
hour, say. Note the purposeless movements begin- 
ning to appear; and they are apt to increase until 
they may amount to disorder. What does an ex- 
perienced orator do in such a situation? He tells 
a humorous story, which relaxes- the muscles of his 
auditors, and so really rests them, and helps them 
to gain possession of themselves again — to become 
orderly J that is to say. The teacher may learn some- 
thing from the example of the public speaker. When 
she finds her room becoming disorderly she can give 
a short recess, as suggested above, allowing her 
pupils to be free to do as they choose, barring vicious 
or lawless conduct, of course. Preferably they 
should go out-of-doors for a two or three minutes' 
run. This will be adequate for the purpose of re- 
laxing the tense muscles, filling the lungs with fresh 
air, and quickening the circulation. Do not hedge 
your pupils about with restrictions during these re- 
laxing periods. You must let their wills follow the 
lines of least resistance; which means that you must 
not keep their attention upon the observance of 
rules, commands, or directions. Hold their attention 
just as long as you think advisable to the regular 
studies in your program, then let it go absolutely 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 15 

for a brief period. This is the most effective and 
economical method of procedure. 

Children in the first two or three grades ought to 
have frequent relaxing periods: — every twenty min- 
Frequent relaxa- utes probably. It would doubtless 
tion periods abso- be desirable if one could so ar- 
lutely imperative j-ange the regular work that there 
would be a variety of manual activities which chil- 
dren would take up after every abstract study, for 
these w^ould serve to "unclamp" tense muscles. But 
even with such an arrangement, children must have 
a few minutes for spontaneous play several times 
during each session. Pupils in the higher grades 
should have short recesses at least after every forty- 
five minutes of mental work. It would be better if 
they could be given three minutes' relaxation after 
every thirty minutes' attention to their studies. 

Have you ever visited a school-room at half -past 
eleven, say, when the teacher and the pupils alike 
were irritated because they were fatigued? If so, 
you doubtless saw one of the most serious situations 
arising in school work. It is safe to say that the pu- 
pils were continually "getting out of order", and the 
teacher's time and energy were devoted largely to 
disciplining refractory individuals. There was much 
scolding and threatening ; the teacher's voice was ir- 
ritating, and she complained frequently about the be- 



i6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

havior and work of the pupils. There was certainly 
reason for her unhappiness, since the pupils were 
making mistakes in their problems, their spelling, 
and so on. All the investigations upon school-room 
fatigue have emphasized the tendency of pupils in 
this condition to overlook errors in their work. 
They can not attend closely to what they have in 
hand, and so inevitably they make blunders. They 
are likely also to be "careless" ; they may blot their 
copy-books, drop objects on the floor, knock their 
feet against the sides of their desks, and so on. 
Sooner or later the teacher becomes disturbed by all 
this "racket", and then she only aggravates an al- 
ready bad condition of affairs. Do you not see that 
most school-room tragedies occur at such times, 
when both teacher and pupils have lost control of 
themselves in some measure ? 

If you are at any time placed in such a situation, 
try the plan of telling your school some interesting 
story, if you can not grant a recess. Have you ever 
observed the effect upon a disorderly school of a 
good song — one that must be sung standing, and 
that pupils "throw themselves into" with sponta- 
neous enthusiasm? It is oftentimes very helpful to 
open windows and take breathing exercises, as deep 
as possible, for three minutes. Let the pupils 
"sound their lungs" while they inspire; it all helps 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 17 

them to unclamp. I have seen a disorderly school 
brought back to reasonable order by this simple 
expedient. No one became angry, and the whole 
situation was much better than if the teacher had 
proceeded on the principle that pupils could be self- 
controlled if they only would, and what they needed 
was to have their wills stimulated. Experiments 
have shown that in conditions of fatigue the will 
becomes more or less erratic, and an individual can 
not really do what in better times he would easily 
do. We are coming to see that the will requires 
good physiological, and especially good nervous 
conditions in order to operate effectively on all oc- 
casions. Do not call pupils by harsh names, imply- 
ing deliberate, wilful viciousness, when they lose 
their inhibiting power; but try to establish in them 
nervous stability again, and if you succeed you will 
find that ordinarily they will adapt themselves read- 
ily to the rules and regulations of the school. 

Recently the writer had an opportunity to make 
some observations in a class-room in which practi- 
A concrete instance cally everything was going the 
of a disorderly scliool wrong way. The children 
were unusually "restless", and they seemed unable to 
apply themselves to their tasks. For the one hour I 
was in the room the teacher was charging her pu- 
pils with vario\is sorts of shorteomings. According 



i8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

to her representations, they were mischievous, dis- 
obedient, lazy ; and in short they were unfit to be in 
the school at all. There was apparently some justi- 
fication for these complaints, because the children 
did very poorly in all their work. In a class of 
twenty pupils reciting in geography, not one under- 
stood the lesson so that he could recite intelligently 
upon it. Most of the children were apparently alto- 
gether ignorant of practically everything in the les- 
son. This irritated the teacher greatly; and in voice, 
face, and manner she expressed her extreme displeas- 
ure. This stirred up all in the room so that every 
one was more or less unhappy. In most of the reci- 
tations the children were "stupid". They made er- 
rors frequently, and they recited slowly and discon- 
nectedly in all studies. 

This particular class of pupils had not acquired 
the reputation for being dull or disorderly under 
other teachers. On the contrary, there were a num- 
ber of bright pupils In the room; but on this occa- 
sion they seemed as obtuse as their classmates. 
What conditions could have produced such an un- 
fortunate state of affairs ? One did not need to re- 
main In the room long In order to discover certain 
prominent causes for the tumult and disorder which 
were so apparent. In the first place, the teacher was 
in poor health. The first time the pupils saw her 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 19 

some of them remarked upon her emaciated appear- 
ance. They even said they did not beheve she had 
sufficient strength to teach school. She had not gone 
far in her work before she contracted what she 
called a cold, which probably was caused mainly by 
fatigue. Thinking it to be a cold, she insisted upon 
having all the windows and doors of her room closed 
continually. She would not permit them to be 
opened during intemiissions even. As a conse- 
quence, the air of the room was insufferable. One 
thing which irritated the teacher was the yawning 
of the children. She said in effect several times 
during the hour of my visit : "Stop your yawning 
and get to work. If you were interested in your 
lessons you would not be going to sleep in your 
seats.'' Two of the children complained of head- 
ache, and the teacher charged them with being lazy, 
and wanting to escape from their tasks. The rela- 
tions between herself and her pupils became so tense 
that no effective teaching could be done in the room. 
It seems hard to say it, but it ought to be saidi 
that a teacher in such a physical condition as this 
particular one ought to be debarred from the school- 
room. It is not right that forty children should 
waste their time, and be exposed to treatment which 
is likely to develop what is mean and irritable in 
them. On the teacher's side, if she finds herself be- 



20 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

coming excessively fatigued, it will be the part of 
wisdom for her to stop short until she can get 
enough strength to conduct the work of her class as 
it should be done. If she is in such a frail condition, 
or in such a state of mind that she thinks she can 
not endure fresh air, then she certainly ought to stay 
out of the school-room, and not subject pupils to con- 
ditions which will injure them physically and de- 
velop in them antagonistic attitudes toward the life 
of the school. 

The writer recently inspected a Western school in 
which he found a room devoted exclusively to the 
The teacher's use of the teachers while off duty. It 
relaxation was attractively though simply fur- 
nished, and it suggested rest and relaxation. When 
the teachers have a free period, they go there if they 
choose; and it is said to be a very popular place. 
The teachers agree they can teach more enthusias- 
tically the latter part of the day, if they can be at 
ease for a half-hour some time during the session. 

On a strictly economical basis, it would pay to 
have such a room in every grade and high school. 
Teachers are human; and the human machine is so 
constructed that periods of high tension must be fol- 
lowed by periods of low tension, if the machine is to 
work most effectively. When the teacher is before 
his class, every faculty should be alert. He should 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 21 

be dynamic, and at the same time self -controlled and 
well-poised. But when the class is dismissed, he 
should at times be able to slip out of the class en- 
vironment into a different one, where he can "let 
down". 

It is better for students and teachers that they 
should be apart some of the time during every ses- 
sion. The rest-room, affords the teacher a bit of 
club life, of a mild sort, of course, during the day; 
and his work will be the fresher and the more vital 
for it. He is more likely to be interesting, and 
less likely to be "cranky" and irritable as the day's 
work draws to a close. 

But we have inherited the notion that teaching is 
a very serious, austere business ; and while on duty 
teachers ought not tO' relax. This notion is not well- 
defined, it is true, and many who really appear to 
believe it will not acknowledge it when it is plainly 
stated, as above. A certain superintendent of schools 
in a good-sized city affords an illustration of the 
point in question. The rest-room idea was men- 
tioned to him, but he did not warm up to it in the 
least. He offered some scattered opinions on the 
general subject of the attitude of the teacher toward 
his work; and the sum of his remarks was that a 
teacher who had the right spirit would wish to re- 
main in his class-room when he had a free period, 



22 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

looking over papers, and preparing himself for com- 
ing events. Being led on, he said he thought a 
teacher ought not to attend a party of any sort, ex- 
cept on Friday or Saturday evening; and once a 
week was a liberal allowance. 

Now, this is taking too stem a view of the teach- 
ing business. The superintendent referred to is a 
thoroughly honest, sincere man, who is anxious to 
do the very best he knows how by the children of his 
city; but he is not so keen a student of human na- 
ture as he might be. He places more emphasis than 
he should on mere work on the part of the teacher. 
He does not value freshness and buoyancy in the 
class-room as highly as they deserve. Moreover, he 
does not understand the principles of economy and 
efficiency in mental effort, for if he did he would 
see that more work can be accomplished if periods 
of relaxation follow periods of application quite 
frequently. This matter has been carefully and ex- 
tensively studied as it concerns pupils in the school- 
room ; arid the principles established apply to teach- 
ers as well as to students. 

But we have not finished yet with causes of disor- 
der in pupils. There is a popular theory that they do 
The stormiest season their poorest work in the 
of the school year spring. It is commonly said 
that after the long winter's work children are fa- 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 23 

tigued ; and when the snow commences to melt, they 
begin to long for the freedom of out-of-doors. 
Some investigations made at home and abroad tend 
to show that children do fatigue more easily in May 
than in November, which is undoubtedly due to the 
fact that during the school session they expend nerv- 
ous energy more rapidly than they generate it, re- 
sulting in a gradual lowering of vitality and en- 
durance, so that the machinery of life does not run 
so smoothly or so easily as when the pressure of 
energy is high. 

But with all the disadvantages of teaching fa- 
tigued pupils in the spring, it is probable that there 
are still greater disadvantages of teaching ill-ad- 
justed ones in the autumn. Have you not observed 
how restless and inattentive pupils become when the 
thermometer begins to remain below the freezing 
point during the day? Then the windows of the 
school as well as of the home are kept closed, so that 
pupils breathe only artificially-heated air, oftentimes 
superheated and filled with irritating dust This air 
is usually very dry, and is quite different in its effects 
upon the nervous system from the sun-heated air out 
in the open. Then, in the autumn pupils become 
adapted only slowly to the regime of the school, for 
they are entirely unaccustomed to the long hours of 
sitting required therein. Throughout the summer 



24 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

months tHey are, as a general thing, very active 
muscularly. Every vital organ is as a rule health- 
fully stimulated through constant physical exercise. 
In an active motor life, the lungs are fully inflated 
thousands of times every day, while in school they 
may not be properly expanded once during the 
whole session, with the exception of the few minutes 
spent on the playground. The digestive and elim- 
inative systems suffer most under the restraints of 
the school, especially during the period of readjust- 
ment. The muscular system, which in a growing 
child craves exercise, is in a school seat kept in an 
inactive and unnatural condition. The moment the 
pupil begins his work after vacation, practically his 
whole organism is required to assume an entirely 
different attitude and perform different functions 
from what it did during the summer months. 

Whenever an individual, young or old, makes a 
fundamental change in his mode of life, a consider- 
able period is always required for readjustment. 
During this period of transition he Is ill at ease, un- 
comfortable, and he may even suffer actual pain 
through the Inability of organs to forget their for- 
mer functions, and to adapt themselves to the re- 
quirements of the new mode of living. This is 
especially true of the growing boy. If you will 
observe him in school about the first of October, 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 25 

after he has been shut in for two or three weeks, 
and especially if he is not given much time for 
games and play in the open air, you will find him 
restless, discontented, giving his attention to his 
work with great difficulty, and ready upon the 
slightest pretext to abandon his studies for interests 
that appeal to his muscles. If the weather requires 
that the windows be closed, so that pupils get but 
little fresh air, you will find that the active boy will 
begin to complain of his head being "stuffed up," 
and then he will be in a very unfavorable condition 
for effective work. Sometimes one can see the 
majority of pupils in a class-room with their respira- 
tory passages partially or wholly blocked, and this 
will prevent easy breathing during the night, as well 
as during the day. This is the unhappiest season of 
all for a pupil. 

The practical suggestion to be made here is that 
we ought to bring pupils by degrees to the work of 
Bring pupils by ^^^^ s^^^^l ^^ ^^^^ autumn. It is 

degrees to the work a serious mistake to start off at 
of the school in full blast the second week in 

the autumn September, requiring pupils 

from the very beginning to spend five hours or more 
each day in a seat. Even an adult could not with- 
out considerable disturbance to himself physically, 
make such a transition as this in his mode of living. 



26 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

It is surely impossible for a child to do it without 
a great deal of inconvenience, and even without 
serious interference with vital functions. It is well 
known that school diseases thrive particularly dur- 
ing the period of readjustment. But if we could 
lead children gradually into school life in the 
autumn, we could probably bring about the transi- 
tion without doing violence to the bodily functions. 
It ought to be possible to construct a school program 
so that pupils could be in school for half a day, say, 
the first six weeks of the year; and then later an 
afternoon session of one or two hours could be 
added, if this should be found necessary in order to 
accomplish the necessary amount of work. One 
will run no risk in saying that at the end of the year 
the pupil will be just as far along if he spends 
only a half -day in school the first six weeks, as if 
he spends twice this amount; and he will be in a 
sounder physical condition. 

This will perhaps be the best time and place in 
which to enter a protest against our present method 
The problem of running our schools for nine 
of vacation months, and turning children loose 
for three months at a stretch. Our present system is 
ill-suited to contemporary conditions. It was orig- 
inated at a time when we were ,a rural people, and 
when children were required to labor for profit 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 27 

during the summer months. We have continued 
this system, with sHght modifications, on to the 
present time, when seventy-odd per cent, of all 
school children are in urban communities where 
they have no opportunity to perform useful work; 
where, indeed, there is nothing for them to do when 
the schools are not in session. Some of the larger 
cities are beginning to appreciate the problem, and 
are establishing vacation schools ; but nine-tenths of 
the communities in our country which should have 
school work during the summer have nothing of the 
kind. 

The writer has asked many people in different 
communities why there should be such a long break 
in school life; and while some have thrown up their 
hands and declared the thing was beyond them, the 
majority have said that children need this free 
period for rest and recreation. But experience and 
modern research alike indorse the proposition that 
frequent short breaks during the year are of greater 
advantage for health and for intellectual advance- 
ment than one long vacation. A shorter school-day, 
but with a greater number of school-days in the 
year, would conform to the laws of psychology 
and hygiene better than our present plan of a 
long school-day, with three months' total abandon- 
ment of school work. The writer thinks it v/ould be 



2^ EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

better to have school six days in the week, not more 
than three, or at the outside three and one-half 
hours a day, forty-eight weeks in the year, than to 
have a six-hour school-day with a three months' 
vacation period. Given a certain number of hours 
that a pupil should spend in school in a year, then 
they ought to be distributed evenly throughout the 
year, rather than to be massed into eight and one- 
half months. 

The problem of control of the young in a com- 
munity would be vastly easier if they had some 
work in the school for most of the days of the 
year. It would be of advantage to have one or two 
weeks' rest four times during the year, but the vaca- 
tion ought not to be longer than this. Of course, 
adults who like long vacations so that they may 
change their place of abode and apply themselves 
to new activities will interpret the child's need from 
their own experience, and they will say, "Why, of 
course, the child must have three months so that 
he may cultivate new interests." But the interests 
of practically all the children in any community are 
such that they can be best indulged by having sev- 
eral free hours every day in the year, rather than 
by being crowded for nine months, and then having 
three months wholly free. The majority of chil- 
dren in the city do not know how properly to employ 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 29 

their time for a long idle period. They grow weary 
of the activities which are repeated over and over 
again in urban communities. They would be much 
happier if they were in school two or three hours 
during the summer months, engaged in concrete 
work such as the vacation schools undertake. 

We ought not to bring this chapter to a close 
without referring, at least, to the effect upon con- 
Physical defects and duct and intellectual work of 
irritants as causes of abnormal physical conditions, 
dullness and disorder Whatever else has resulted 
from the modern study of children, there has at 
least been an awakening on the part of parents and 
teachers to the fact that mental defects and deficien- 
cies often go back to remediable physical causes. 
Within the last decade, so many cases of intellectual 
and emotional perversion in the young have been 
shown to be due to imperfect vision and hearing, 
that some people are coming to think that all 
stupidity and viciousness are caused by malfunction 
of eyes and ears; and it is not necessary now prob- 
ably to urge upon teachers the importance of exam- 
inations to detect defects in sight and hearing. 

Hitherto few persons would have said that there 
was any relation between mental activity and the con- 
dition of the teeth, but we are likely to see a change 
of opinion in this respect. Recently some results 



30 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

were gained from an examination of the school chil- 
dren of Andover, Massachusetts, which indicated 
that defective teeth had a very serious effect upon 
the mental processes of children; and these resuks 
are being corroborated by extensive examinations 
in foreign countries. In a recent issue of the Peda- 
gogical Seminary, Superintendent Johnson, of An- 
dover, presents us with this picture of the average 
school child of his city: "He has twenty-four teeth; 
eight of them are diseased; sixteen of them are 
discolored with unsightly accumulations of food de- 
posits, or else he has some noticeable malformation, 
interfering with breathing or mastication or dis- 
figuring his appearance ; three of the four first per- 
manent molars are seriously affected, or else one is 
already lost and decayed. He has either never put 
a tooth-brush to his teeth, and has had toothache 
more or less during the past year, or he is suffering 
excruciating pains, and has never been inside of a 
dentist's office. Furthermore, the chances, as will be 
shown later, are that he has suffered with m.alnutri- 
tion, that he is shorter and lighter than he should be, 
and that his school work has been impaired. And, 
what is sadder, his condition is growing continually 
worse." 

But, serious as defective teeth may be in their 
inffuence upon the child's^ work, it is nevertheless 



SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT 31 

probable that attention needs to be directed now 
especially to the baneful influence of imperfect 
respiration upon the conduct and intellectual activ- 
ity of children. In a general way, people doubtless 
appreciate the intimate relations existing between 
good breathing, and health of body and mind ; but, 
after all, the majority of us who have to do with 
the young seem quite indifferent to this matter, 
mainly because conditions which interfere with 
proper respiration are not readily detected by the 
untrained eye. Occasionally a parent who sees that 
his child breathes through his mouth much of the 
time suspects that there must be some interference 
with respiration; but if he keeps his mouth closed, 
the parent passes him up as all right, and the teacher 
does the same, even though he may be dull and dis- 
orderly in the school, and without apparent cause. 
However, there are cases of defective respiration 
that are not manifested by mouth breathing, but 
they may act as a blight upon the child's life. Prob- 
ably the most serious consequences of defective 
respiration occur during sleep, when the nervous 
system is partly relaxed, and ought to be completely 
so. It is well known that enlarged tonsils and 
adenoid tissue sometimes fill up the respiratory pass- 
ages during sleep, but may be kept fairly well out 
of way during the day by reflex nervous control. 



2,2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The writer has followed very carefully two chil- 
dren who were for a time the victims of defective 
respiration. Both had much trouble with breathing 
during sleep, and were usually quite restless, so that 
they rarely secured perfect rest at night. As a 
consequence, they were both in a fatigued and irri- 
table condition most of the time. With one child the 
disastrous effect of this condition was manifested 
in general lethargy, a growing indifference to every- 
thing around, and a lessening of keenness and en- 
durance in all intellectual operations. With the 
other child the over-tense condition of the nei-vous 
system resulted in lack of self-control. He was 
unmanageable much of the time, flew into a passion 
on the slightest provocation, and was often in tears 
over slight annoyances. Nobody seemed to know 
what was the trouble with him. Parents and teach- 
ers alike tried to arouse the first child, through 
dermal stimulations as well as exhortation, but to 
no avail. The second child became a great problem 
because of his hostility a good part of the time to 
everybody and everything, and his peevish, petulant 
disposition. In both cases much attention was given 
to food and healthful habits of life, but no one 
thought to notice their breathing at night. Some 
comment was made upon their restlessness in their 
sleep, and this was thought to be due to their 



SCHOOL-ROO^I GOVERNMENT 33 

nervousness, and not to their inability to breathe 
easily. 

Upon examination finally, serious barriers to 
good respiration were discovered. An operation 
was perfomied upon both the children, enlarged ton- 
sils being removed in one case, and adenoid tissue 
in the other. Immediately there was improvement. 
The lethargic, indifferent child came slowly but 
surely back to her original attitude of sprightliness 
and vivacity. Every day one could see her gaining 
in alertness, and now she is as responsive to the 
world as one could v^ish, and making excellent 
progress in all her school work. The second child 
has acquired much self-control, though his difficulty 
has not been relieved so completely as could be de- 
sired. But there can be no question whatever that 
the cause of the shortcoming in both children was 
improper oxygenation of the blood, and restlessness 
during sleep. Of course, the organism suffers se- 
verely when it is difficult to obtain a sufficient supply 
of oxygen, but this is after all not so important as 
the nervous effect of inability to breathe. 

The importance of this matter demands that in- 
vestigations should be made in all public schools to 
determine if there are any obstructions in the re- 
spiratory passages of pupils. It needs no argument 
to show that if left to the initiative of parents, not 



34 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

one case of defect in a hundred will be discovered. 
The experience of people in the examination of eyes 
and ears has shown this. But unhappily many par- 
ents are apt to think that this interferes with their 
rights, or they are afraid that their children will be 
injured in some way. People are always hostile to 
any innovations of this character. There is hardly 
a city in the country where children's eyes and ears 
have been examined that teachers and specialists 
have not had to fight for the privilege. The atti- 
tude of the typical parent was illustrated last fall 
in a city which represents itself as progressive, when 
it was proposed to have examinations made by 
specialists of the condition of the teeth and throats 
of school children. So many parents sent in pro- 
tests that the board of education refused to have 
the work done, though it was to cost them nothing. 
But there has never been an instance, so far as the 
writer is aware, of examinations having been made 
by properly trained persons, when parents have not 
been delighted with the results ; and this fact should 
warrant those who know the necessity of it in 
urging its prosecution, even in the face of a good 
deal of opposition. 



CHAPTER II 

PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 

What is a "spoiled" child? The term is a rela- 
tive one ; it can not be well defined abstractly, other 

The"spoiled"cliild *^" *" ^^^ ^hat one who is con- 

stantly at odds with the people 
about him, or hostile to the rules of conduct of the 
society in which he lives is "spoiled." It is, though, 
a matter of degree ; every immature creature is to a 
greater or less extent ill-adjusted to its environment. 
Maturity really means perfected adaptation. But 
here is a boy who would be recognized almost at once 
as a "spoiled" child. He is eight years of age, and 
there is no instance on record when he readily and 
cheerfully acquiesced in any suggestion affecting his 
action, and made by the members of his family, un- 
less it happened to be exactly in the line of his de- 
sires. He is a bully through and through. He issues 
commands to those older as well as those younger 
than himself ; and he is an adept in the use of a va- 
riety of arts, with which nature endows every child 
in greater or less degree, to get his mandates carried 

35 



v/ 



36 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

into effect. The people nearest to him feel they 
ought not to ''give in" to him, but they can not resist 
him effectually now. His expressions of anger when 
he is crossed are so violent and prolonged that they 
"get on the nerves" of all who hear or see him, so 
that they can rarely hold out to the end against him. 
Of course, this shows his natural shrewdness and 
perseverance, — estimable qualities if in their expres- 
sion they could be brought into accord with the 
existing social order. As for willingly obeying any 
one, no such activities ever issue from his springs 
of conduct. His view of life, naive, of course, is 
that people should serve him ; that his desires should 
always be first considered. Nature endowed him 
with this disposition, and his trainers have brought 
nature to perfection. 

And what is the consequence ? For one thing, he is 
very far from a happy child. He is in conflict with 
The "spoiled" child some one much of the time, 
is hardly ever a because most people will not 

happy one yield to him without a struggle. 

He brings upon himself a good deal of physical dis- 
comfort, because he will eat whatever he sees and 
wants, no matter what advice his elders may give 
him on the subject. He is undersized, partly, no 
doubt, because of his tempestuous, emotional life, 
and his bad hygienic habits. He gets on very poorly 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 37 

in school, because he is not docile or teachable. He 
lacks the attitude of a learner. He is a boss, a 
bully ; and bullies can not take lessons readily. They 
can not assimilate the experiences of others, as the 
school presents them; and so this unhappy boy is 
dull and behind his proper class. At the same time, 
the people who have to live with him are more or 
less miserable whenever he is in sight, since there is 
likely to be a clash at any moment. It is a thor- 
oughly disagreeable situation all the way 'round. 

Could it have been avoided? A young horse or 
dog is less well adapted by nature to live under 
domesticity than is a child, and yet horses and dogs 
are usually trained so that they adjust themselves 
very well to the existing order of things. And they 
probably get a good measure of happiness out of 
life, and give pleasure to the people with whom they 
have relations, because they early learn the lesson 
of ready adaptation. The problem of training the 
child is more complicated, but the principles in- 
volved are the same. Training always means just 
one thing, — so influencing an individual in his intel- 
lectual processes, his moral tendencies, and his 
habits that he can adjust himself in happy relations 
to his environments, social as well as physical. 

As we have seen elsewhere, nature equips the in- 
dividual in considerable part — in largest part, no 



38 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Higher and lower doubt — for a simpler, more prlm- 
tendencies m ^^ly^^ ^^^^ egoistic, more impul- 

human life • i-r ^i , i- • 

sive life than he can live m 

contemporary society. But she also equips him with 
the possibihties of adaptation to complex social con- 
ditions; and training consists in strengthening the 
higher tendencies and weakening the lower ones. 
Fortunately the child is endowed with traits that 
we can utilize to accomplish our end. He is a "born 
imitator", and he is also very quick to discern what 
experiences will result advantageously and what 
ones disastrously for him. Animals are gifted with 
the latter trait, but not with the former to any 
extent ; so that their training must be based wholly 
upon their desire to avoid pain and to increase 
pleasure. Make it clear to any of the higher ani- 
mals that a given act — as when a dog barks at 
passing strangers — will bring disagreeable results 
always and inevitably, and he will sooner or later 
abandon the act, often even if it be deeply instinc- 
tive. And the animal will be none the less pleased 
with life on account of the sacrifice. There are, it 
is true, a few impulses so profound and urgent that 
they will be expressed even at the risk of forfeiting 
life in their gratification. But probably nine-tenths 
of all a dog's activities can be definitely and perma- 
nently determined by the simple method indicated, 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 39 

the essential principle of which is that the creature 
must be made tO' realize that certain results in- 
evitably flow from specific activities. 

But a dog or a horse can be easily "spoiled" in 
the hands of unwise trainers. Take, for example 
again, the case of the dog that barks at strangers. 
The writer has studied the change which took place 
in the habits of a young dog which had been well 
trained; but before its actions were securely fixed, 
it was transferred to a new home where there were 
several children. Two dogs in the neighborhood had 
developed the barking trait, and when the new dog 
came into their company, he soon showed an inclina- 
tion to yield to his original impulse. The adults in his 
new home were for punishing him so as to strengthen 
his inhibitions, in order that he might keep to his 
good habits. But the children could not endure the 
thought of making him suffer. They pleaded for 
him, and successfully. They declared over and over 
aisrain that he would not commit the offense another 
time, and even if he did they could manage him, so 
that he would not go the way of the other dogs in 
the neighborhood. Thus he escaped the discipline 
which would surely have been given him if he had 
been under the control of his former trainer. 

Under the circumstances his course could have 
been easily predicted. It was almost as certain as the 



40 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

law of gravitation. His native tendency to bark 
gradually reasserted itself. There were differences 
of opinion among his new trainers regarding his 
treatment, and he always got the benefit (temporary 
benefit only, of course) of the doubt. He would be 
"scolded" by one child and let go free by another, 
while no one kept up the discipline of his first 
master. As a consequence, the dog in less than a 
year was as bad as the worst of his associates. He 
paid little heed to the constant scoldings he received, 
and he was an annoyance to every one in the com- 
munity. As a result, he got on much less happily 
himself than when he refrained from barking, and 
received the kindly expressions of the persons about 
him. He became a "spoiled" dog because he 
acquired habits which set him in opposition to his en- 
vironment. The children were incompetent trainers, 
because they allowed their sentiments to dominate 
their judgment; and in deciding what should be 
done at any given moment, they lost sight alto- 
gether of the future. Rather than inflict a little 
pain now they took the chance of subjecting the 
dog to continual unhappiness later on. The dog 
was entitled to wiser treatment than this. He could 
not see what was ahead ; he had to depend upon the 
foresight, the moral courage, and the sanity of 
those who should have had the whole span of his 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 41 

life in view, and shaped the action of the moment in 
view of the greatest good in the days to come. 

How often one sees children governed in some 
such way as this dog was by his last masters; and 
Short-sightedness with similar results. Foreign ob- 
in the training servers say we Americans fail 
of childrem^ j^ost of all in the training of the 

young. While our children are yet babies, it is 
claimed, they rule their elders. They are not amen- 
able to authority; they are ''too previous" on all 
occasions; and they themselves and those about 
them are the worse off on this account. So many 
people in their training are like the children with 
the dog — short-sighted and sentimental. Of course, 
the child's life is altogether too complex for one to 
trace the evil results of particular modes of govern- 
ment, as can be easily done in the case of the dog. 
But if in an unprejudiced way one will for a num- 
ber of years observe the children he knows, he will 
see that a certain type of training invariably pro- 
duces unhappy results; it "spoils" children. The 
writer has in mind a mother, whose five-year-old 
child is saucy, impudent, irritable, domineering, 
making himself and others very uncomfortable most 
of the time. These qualities are, so to say, natural to 
all children, if only they be given the right sort of 
soil in which to grow. They are all expressions of 



42 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the native domineering tendency. The mother of this 
unfortunate boy (he is unfortunate, not blamable, 
for what better does he know?) began in the wrong 
manner in her training. She treated her babe as a 
plaything, to be stimulated in every kind of way, 
because his responses were so "cunning". The babe 
was frequently shown to the neighbors, who always 
handled him, and put him through his little tricks. 
No matter what the child did, the grown-ups who 
saw him or heard him would gurgle over him and 
make the performance the center of attention, which 
is what every human being normally desires, from 
the cradle to the grave. When the infant attempted 
hectoring tactics upon the mother or any one else, 
the onlookers would all exclaim, "How cute!" 
"Isn't he too dear for anything?" and so on ad 
nauseam. 

Things went on in this way, the child being inso- 
lent continually, while the mother ignored the con- 
duct, because it made little difference for the mo- 
ment. The neighbors, with good intentions, laughed 
at the child's performances, and really incited the lit- 
tle rebel to further aggressive ventures. Of course, a 
child of one year can not do much harm anyway, so 
let it bully all it wants to. Even at two years of age, 
it is too feeble to disturb the established order of 
the home or the neighborhood by its protests and 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 43 

its commands; so what is the use of making it un- 
happy by restraining it? And what is the harm of 
stimulating it, and enjoying its childish display of 
anti-social traits? 

Yes ; but how is it at a later period ? At the age 
of four the bully, who has been perfectly consistent 
in his development, may be at odds practically all 
of the time with his mother and brothers and sisters 
and playmates. They may scold him incessantly, 
but this is apt only to anger him, and to intensify 
his hostility to most of the rules and regulations of 
the phases of organized society with which he comes 
in contact. His bullying is not so "cute" at four, 
and the very people who helped to "spoil" him are 
likely now to go around advising what ought to be 
done with him. Meanwhile, no one does anything 
to turn the tide of events effectually, and the child 
runs on along the route that will bring him to a most 
undesirable end in social antagonisms. 

In "breaking" animals, there is always a contest 
of will; but once a trainer succeeds in having an 
How animals animal do what he wishes of it, there 
are "broken" is not likely to be trouble there- 
after. But if he fails, and gives up to the animal, 
he will conquer it later only at the cost of a 
relatively vast amount of time and nervous energy 
on both sides. The reason is apparent. Whatever 



44 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the outcome of a first experience of this sort is, it 
tends to be regarded by the animal (or the child, 
either, who is non-reflective in respect to such mat- 
ters) as a guide for future action under similar 
circumstances. So a five-year-old child v^ho has, 
from the cradle on, bullied people will hardly ever 
get over feeling that he can continue to order them 
about whenever it is to his interest so to do. His 
whole organism — body, intellect, and emotions — gets 
toned through and through with the domineering 
temper. If you reform him you must begin and 
build up a new individual practically de novo. This 
it is that makes it imperative to train the child ra- 
tionally from the very start. 

And the first thing to do is to let him alone as 
much as possible. And especially must the neigh- 
Children must be let bors and all strangers be kept 
alone more than almost wholly away from him 

they now are ^ntil the parent gets certain 

fundamental habits of response securely fixed in 
him. It is certainly not excessive to say that in 
America we are likely to be too free — too nervously, 
hysterically free — with our children. Then there 
seems to be developing among us a weak senti- 
mentality, which leads many people to indulge a 
child in his every whim; and the more we indulge 
him the more discontented he is apt to become. The 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 45 

really happy children in American life to-day, so 
far as the writer knows them, are not the children 
who have never felt restraint, but those who from 
the beginning have been indulged in only those 
actions which they will be at liberty to practise 
under all circumstances. The really miserable child 
is the one who will acknowledge no authority, and 
who is incessantly trying to carry through his own 
designs. The more he coerces people the more he 
seems to lose emotional poise. In the light of con- 
temporary science, and also of the experience of 
progressive peoples, it may be said that an immature 
creature requires the restraining hand of wise au- 
thority. But this restraint would not be much re- 
quired in youth if we would be earnest and fair 
with the child from the beginning in all vital matters 
of conduct. If we were perfectly uniform in our 
moral attitudes, and firm in carrying out our com- 
mands, the child would early choose his course so 
as to keep in clear water ; and he would be happy in 
this choice. But we must start right, so that the 
individual in his very first lessons will learn what 
he may do without hesitation, and what he must 
check himself in. It will not be necessary, with 
rational training, to be severe often; though it 
would be vastly better for every one concerned if 
a child should be punished soundly once or twice for 



46 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

an undesirable tendency, than if he should be let go 
to-day and to-morrow and the next day, until in the 
end he must be nagged every day about it. 

Let us see how our principle would work out in 
some typical cases. Is it of advantage to a pupil 
The favorite to be favored so that his tasks are 
pupil made a little lighter than those of his 

fellows, and his errors are excused more readily? 
Several mothers were recently discussing the prin- 
ciple in question in the presence of the writer. It 
appeared that a boy in the sixth grade in the com- 
munity in which these women lived was regarded by 
his classmates as the object of special favor by the 
teacher. He was the son of the superintendent of 
schools. It was charged by these mothers that the 
teacher did not bear down upon him so hard as she 
did upon their own children. If he did not recite 
well in his classes, she would pass over his short- 
comings lightly, but she would make up for her 
leniency when she criticized other pupils. These 
mothers said the teacher marked this particular boy 
higher than she did other pupils for the same quality 
of work; also, she was in the habit of overlooking 
mischievous conduct in the superintendent's son, 
which would be sharply dealt with in other pupils. 
In short, this boy, presumably on account of his 
paternal connection, was a favorite pupil. His fail- 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 47 

ings were minimized and his virtues magnified as 
compared with his companions. 

These mothers appeared to regret that the fathers 
of their own children were not members of the 
board of education, or did not occupy some other 
distinguished position which would incline teachers 
to show favor to their offspring. They seemed to 
think the boy who was favored had a great ad- 
vantage over other children, though in reality he 
was no better than any of them, if indeed he was 
as good as his associates. Foolish women! They 
can not look beyond the experience of the moment 
to what lies in the future. If they could, they would 
return thanks that their children were not favored 
for artificial reasons, and that they were going 
through the schools without anything commending 
them to the favor of teachers but genuine merit. 

Of all calamities that can overtake a child, there 
are few that can work such disaster as to be favored 
for mere superficial reasons. The boy whose errors 
are overlooked in school because of his social 
connections will regret the experience to the end of 
his life. The capable pupil who is not held for con- 
formity to the standards of the school-room in 
every essential respect is to be pitied, and not to be 
congratulated. A teacher who will favor the son or 
daughter of a superintendent, or president of the 



48 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

board of education, or mayor of the city, or gov- 
ernor of the state, is, although unwittingly, the 
child's worst enemy. Momentarily, the child may 
find some pleasure in being exempted from the rules 
enforced upon his fellows, but such pleasure is of 
short duration. He can not go far without finding 
that the failure to realize standards in the earlier 
part of his work and in his conduct will be the cause 
of his undoing. 

It is a significant fact that the children of persons 
one knows in positions of distinction and authority 
often come far short of their parents, and their 
associates, too, in their achievements. Frequently, 
at any rate, these children have native abilities which 
were not developed in the school, or outside either, 
for the reason that on account of the distinction of 
their parents they have been treated more leniently 
than other children. They have been permitted to 
move along the lines of least resistance constantly, 
with the inevitable result that they are unable now to 
accomplish anything which demands application, 
effort, or concentration of one's powers. 

In some schools the son of a workman may not 
be excused for his errors, but the son of the gov- 
ernor may be ; and when this goes on for some years, 
it happens that the latter child comes to feel that 
his errors will always be overlooked, and it is not 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 49 

necessary for him to take such care as others are 
obliged to take. But when this individual comes to 
fill his own place in the world, people will not over- 
look his errors. They will hold him responsible for 
all he does. While timid and hero-worshipping 
teachers may let the son of the goyernor slide 
through the school, his associates in maturity will 
not let him slide through the world. 

For this reason, it would be well if the school 
could be more strict, if anything, with the children 
of the superintendent of schools and the members 
of the board of education than with other pupils. 
The only way to favor a child is to train him rights 
not to overlook his shortcomings, nor to fail to hold 
him to the performance of tasks within the range of 
his abilities. We are all inclined to be too senti- 
mental about this business, but the more the writer 
sees of education and life, the more convinced he 
becomes that there is no place for mere sentiment 
in the school-room. There is a place for enthusiasm 
and good cheer and heartiness and all the qualities 
which make pupils happy and contented ; but there is 
no justification for that sentiment that sacrifices 
competency in the future for more or less doubtful 
pleasures of the moment. Don't favor a pupil for 
anything in the world but achievement and good 
conduct. You will need, though, to resist the ten- 



50 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

dency to favor him because he Hves on a fashionable 
street in the city, or in a palatial residence, or be- 
cause his mother invites you to her receptions, and 
so on ad libitum. 

There are profound changes taking place in our 
social life which make the sensible, wholesome rear- 
New times bring ing of children extremely diffi- 
new problems cult. Such changes have occurred 

m training' jj^ other civilizations, some of 

which have not been able to solve the problems in- 
volved, and those peoples have fallen into decay. 
Just in the measure that community life becomes 
highly complex and luxury increases, in like measure 
does the danger that children will be "spoiled" in- 
crease. It has always been true that when people 
have lived a relatively simple life, every one having 
work of some kind to do, the children early learn 
to adjust themselves willingly and happily to the 
established regimen about them. When work is re- 
quired to be done in order that people may obtain 
what they desire, it Is easy for even a child to feel 
that it must be done, and that he must adapt himself 
to those who are responsible for the doing of it. But 
with the growth of urban life, children are not apt to 
feel the necessity of regular duties being performed 
and adults being obeyed, as they easily do in a sim- 
pler life. Under present-day urban conditions, chil- 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 51 

dren are trained by servants far more largely than 
they were when social life was less complex; and 
servants are to be ordered about, not obeyed. So, 
too, the mother in the modern city is often keyed up 
to such a pitch of excitement on account of social 
tension that she has neither the leisure, the energy, 
nor the inclination to work out moral situations with 
her children, and to follow them through until she 
establishes a feeling and a habit of adjustment to the 
customs and institutions of the community. She 
is usually nervous and in a hurry, and she, like the 
children with the dog, settles problems on the basis 
of immediate and not future need. Let any fair- 
minded person observe how frequently children in 
an American city home are bribed to adapt them- 
selves for the moment to a necessary rule of con- 
duct, and he will be impressed with the way social 
strain is pressing in upon the child and "spoiling" 
him. It is remarkable to what an extent this brib- 
ing business is carried on in some homes. But there 
comes a time when bribing will not do, and then the 
vicious character of this method of training stands 
revealed. It will help out of a present difficulty, but 
it corrupts the whole moral character of the child, 
and unfits him for life in modern society. 

The most serious change taking place in our social 
life, as it affects the training of children, is the rapid 



52 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The elimination of elimination of men from the 
masculinity in the ^h^i^ business. A really im- 
tramingr of children . r ^ . .\ 

pressive fact was brought out 

while a group of gentlemen were discussing this 
matter in Chicago recently. Every member of the 
group but one confessed that the only times he saw 
his children during the week were Saturday after- 
noons and Sunday mornings, and often engage- 
ments would prevent his seeing much of them at 
these times even. In the country, as in the city, 
pupils often pass entirely through the schools to-day 
without coming under the influence of a man at any 
point in their progress. Giving full credit to the 
happy results flowing from feminine influence in 
child-training, it still can be said without qualifica- 
tion that nine out of ten boys will be more or less 
"spoiled" if they do not come under masculine con- 
trol during a considerable part of their life in the 
school and outside. A woman can not effectively 
teach a boy certain lessons he ought to learn thor- 
oughly in order that he may adjust himself to 
modern conditions. She may talk to him about his 
conduct, but she can not dynamize her talk so that 
it will take deep hold on impulse, and check it or 
divert it as circumstances may require. 

In the countries across the sea where practically 
all the teaching is done by men, there seems to an 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 53 

American observer often to be undue roughness in 
the schools. In some of these places one misses the 
sympathy with the young child, and the patience in 
helping him through his difficulties, which is usually 
found in typical American schools. The invasion 
of our schools by women has to a large extent elim- 
inated the rough-and-ready methods which are in 
force now in some countries of the Old World, and 
which were in fashion in our country fifty years 
ago. It is a commonplace remark that man is 
cruder and more biceptual, as it were, in his attitude 
toward the young than is woman. The former 
relies more largely on compulsion to attain his ends ; 
the latter on persuasion. In the school-room, a 
woman can as a rule adapt herself to the sponta- 
neous expressions of children more readily than the 
man can. It is fundamental in the masculine nature 
to coerce non-conformists into compliance with 
rtrlesr and regulations which have been instituted for 
their government; but feminine nature can easily 
tolerate a larger degree of independence, especially 
in the young. 

While the development of tenderness in our schools 
is greatly to be commended, is there yet danger that 
Hypertrophy of it may go too far ? Is it imperative 
our sensibilities that there should be a certain 
amount of sternness, even roughness, in the man- 



54 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

agement of pupils, boys especially? The typical boy 
respects muscle more than he does kindness, gentle- 
ness, or any of the feminine virtues. An unpreju- 
diced observer of our educational regime can not 
fail to see boys in our schools who are going to the 
bad mainly because they do not come under the 
hand of a strong man anywhere in their school 
course. Nothing but masculine vigor, not too much 
repressed, will properly impress such boys, and turn 
them from their evil ways. And not only do boys 
require such influence for their sound development, 
but there seems to be need for it also in the girl's 
life, though the popular view is that while the boy 
should have the softening effect of woman's influ- 
ence, the girl will come out all right even if she is 
taught from start to finish by one of her own sex. 

In modern times people have become very respon- 
sive to the expressions of childhood. Many of us 
can not endure rigorous methods of dealing with 
children, because the circumstances of our lives have 
made us supersensitive to this sort of thing. Our 
forebears, who had rougher work than ourselves to 
do, were more dynamic in their attitude toward the 
young. Their sensibilities were not particularly 
keen in response to the apparent distress of a child 
who did not adapt himself to necessary rules of 
conduct in the home, the school, an4 the church. It 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 55 

is possible their sensibilities were not delicate 
enough; but it is more likely that our sensibilities 
are becoming too active, so that we supinely give 
way to children when they need for their own wel- 
fare efficient resistance, restraint, and control. This 
is certainly true in respect to a large proportion of 
the boys in our schools, and any pseudo-philosophy 
which over-emphasizes delicacy in dealing with 
them will prove a detriment not only to the boys 
themselves but to society at large. At any rate, 
there is slight danger that one positive-minded mas- 
culine individual in a school will nullify to a harm- 
ful degree feminine tenderness therein. 

The over- refinement of our sensibilities in dealing 
with the young is seen in the tendency to prohibit 
Corporal corporal punishment. Any and every 

punishment form of physical correction for wrong- 
doing is prohibited by law in some of the cities of 
our country. France has recently enacted a law to 
the effect that no pupil in any of the public schools 
can be subjected to corporal punishment, v/hile in 
Germany corporal punishment is quite in fashion. 
A comparison of the schools of these two countries 
shows greater spontaneity among the children in the 
former than in the latter, but at the same time the 
French pupils have less respect for the rules and 
regulations of the school than is the case with the 



56 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

German children. The latter are more docile, and 
they accomplish more work than the former. One 
can hardly doubt that it would be of advantage in 
a French' school if there were a little more rigor in 
discipline. The children would not be the less happy 
therefor, and in the end more and better work would 
be accomplished. 

It is not the intention to make a plea for corporal 
punishment as it was practised in our own schools 
Soft methods twenty-five years ago ; but it seems 
in training a decided mistake to prohibit it by 
law, so that it can not be used under any circum- 
stances. Very sensitive people object to the use of 
the rod, because they feel it is brutalizing; but this 
is projecting adult sensibility into young children, 
to the great disadvantage of the latter in their sound 
training. Of course, children are growing more 
sensitive to control, and they respond even more 
readily to gentle influences; but it is absurd to say 
that they have as yet evolved past the necessity of 
control through physical pain. In the hands of a 
very rough teacher, physical punishment is likely to 
do harm in a school; but the fact is such teachers 
can not now be found in the schools in large num- 
bers, as they were in days gone by, — within the 
memory of some of those who will read these pages. 

The fear of physical pain is the only real correc- 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 57 

tive which some children can appreciate. If they 
develop normally they pass out of this stage, but it 
is perfectly normal, and probably morally whole- 
some, at a certain period in their development. 
Mention has been made of the rod; but there are 
other means of administering physical stimuli of a 
corrective sort which are far more effective than 
this. The rod and the ruler are apt to irritate rather 
than to reform. What a refractory boy needs is to 
be made to realize that there is a vast power back of 
the law and the order which the teacher represents, 
and which he is asked to respect. This power must 
be impressed upon him through suggestion largely, 
and it can be much more forcibly expressed in other 
ways than, in striking. 

Suppose a malicious boy who is hostile to the 
spirit of the school is invited to a conference with 
the teacher, and the latter simply takes him in his 
arms, and gives him an inkling of tremendous 
strength, and makes him feel that if this strength 
were fully expressed upon him it would be the 
destruction of him. The boy has not been injured 
in this experience, but he has been made conscious 
of great force, which might be at any time directed 
upon him if he should persist in non-conformity to 
the rules and regulations of the school. Punish- 
ment, to be effective, must be a matter of anticipa- 



5B EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

tlon. One can stand the actual pain when it comes, 
but the thing that works reform upon an offender is 
looking forward to a sort of inevitable thing which 
is veiy likely to do considerable harm. No one is 
ever a good disciplinarian who is constantly exer- 
cising his power to the full. Really effective dis- 
cipline is rarely expressed ; it is rather felt by every 
one under its control. 

While objection has been urged to the prohibition 
of physical chastisement by law, so that it may be 
No cure-all employed in extreme cases, still when 
in discipline it alone is relied upon to cure evil 
tendencies it must inevitably prove a disappointment. 
Parents and teachers might get a useful suggestion 
from the fact that as medicine becomes more scien- 
tific, physicians become less dogmatic in their the- 
ories concerning disease, and more cautious and re- 
served in their dealings with the human body. The 
ready-made doctor always knows what to do, and 
he never lets pass an opportunity to employ his 
drugs or his knife. Whenever he sees disordered 
function he attacks it directly, not considering that 
it may be only the outcome of very complicated and 
subtle disturbances lying far out of sight. The 
charlatan's procedure seems always to the uniniti- 
ated to be straightforward, direct, simple. If you 
show him a coated tongue, he "knows" you have 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 59 

"indigestion", or a ''bad liver"; and so you must 
take a spoonful of his "specific" several times a day. 
But the competent physician understands that, to a 
greater or less extent, the whole organism is in- 
volved in any particular malady. It has for some 
reason lost its resistant powers, and a cure can be 
achieved only when these are restored, which means 
that the entire program of every-day life must be 
taken into account. 

The efficient doctor always seeks for the condi- 
tions that have prevented nature from exercising 
her recuperative influence, or that have turned her 
aside from her usual course; and then he attempts 
to modify these conditions. This leads him to place 
greater faith in hygiene, in the broadest sense, than 
in drugs, though this greatly complicates his task, 
and makes it less spectacular and dramatic in the 
eyes of the patient and his friends than the pyro- 
technical display of the charlatan. When a man is 
ailing he likes to feel that something very specific 
and dynamic is being done for him. This is one rea- 
son why the row of tumblers and the boxes of pills 
have had such popularity by the bedside of the sick. 
When one is in the clutches of disease, he will often 
swallow stuff which nothing could induce him to 
take when he is in better condition to endure it. He 
hopes thus by heroic measures speedily to unmake 



6o EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

what has been years perhaps in the making. He rea- 
sons in his naive way that it is with the human body 
as with a machine — a great effect can be produced 
instantly if one can only apply energy enough. 

The keeping of the spirit in health and restoring 
it thereto when it becomes diseased bears some anal- 
The charlatan in ogy to the treatment of the body. 
ethical training The charlatan in conduct is ever 
ready with his sovereign remedy for all the errancies 
of childhood and youth. His prescriptions are of 
such obvious appropriateness, too, in the eyes of 
many teachers and parents, that his counsel is ea- 
gerly sought and followed. In general, his system 
of moral and educational philosophy reduces itself to 
this : when a child does wrong, his will is vicious or 
lethargic, and it should be purified and stimulated by 
pains and penalties of some sort. "I gave him a 
good, sound whipping," said a mother to the writer 
recently, when she detected her boy of seven in the 
act of appropriating some money that did not be- 
long to him. She did not give a moment's thought 
to modifying the environmental influences which 
nurtured this deed in her son. She simply applied 
her "specific" to the manifestation of the disease, 
and the complex, predisposing conditions were left 
exactly as they were originally. 

All modem study of child-nature is showing us 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 6i 

ever more emphatically that behavior is in any par- 
ticular case the outcome of an exceedingly intricate 
complex of impulses and motives; and the more one 
investigates the springs of conduct in childhood, the 
less confidence he feels in his ability to give ofif- 
hand instructions regarding the course to be fol- 
lowed in any special instance of wrong-doing. He 
feels the intelligent physician's dread of tampering 
with an organism which is but ill-understood, and 
he suspects that the thing is ordinarily too compli- 
cated to be dealt with in the simple and heroic way 
which alone will satisfy "common-sense" people. 
Whipping or scolding affords a cheap and conve- 
nient method of procedure for all transgressions of 
the moral law, and it eases the feelings of those 
guardians of youth who think reform in one's na- 
ture comes about per salHtm, as a consequence of 
violent experiences. But unprejudiced students of 
such methods of punishment as a means of correct- 
ing juvenile offenses are agreed that in the major- 
ity of cases they are a failure. At best, as employed 
in youth, their influence is usually temporary, and 
they touch only the externalities of conduct, not the 
springs thereof. The state has discovered that the 
prison and the whipping-post do not reform young 
criminals; nothing can accomplish this but a long 
period of training that begins at the very bottom, 



62 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

and literally builds up a new moral structure. The 
method is slow, and it lacks in spectacular features ; 
but human nature can not be transformed at the 
drop of the hat. 

Students of child-development are coming to lay 
chief emphasis upon prophylactic rather than upon 
therapeutic measures in the training of the young. 
They realize that by the eighth or ninth year a child 
has acquired his bent in respect to much if not most 
of his conduct. Indeed, he probably has the foun- 
dation of the whole ethical structure laid as early as 
the third year; for by this time he has discovered 
whether he is to obey the laws of society as ex- 
pressed through his parents, or whether he will fol- 
low laws of his own making. The time to establish 
in the child respect for authority, and a disposition 
to yield to it readily and contentedly, is just when 
his expectations and habits are getting set, for then 
the task presents comparatively few difficulties. But 
an extremely wasteful and ineffective method of 
training consists in giving way to the boy until he 
gets out into the world, where his actions have pub- 
lic significance, and then beginning to whip him for 
deeds which heretofore have been permitted. 

Our discussion of discipline thus far has pro- 
ceeded almost wholly from the standpoint of the 
adult, who is responsible for leading the pupil to 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 63 

From the pupil's adapt himself to the social order 
standpoint [^ which he finds himself. But let 

us look at some of these questions for a little while 
from the point of view of the child who is being co- 
erced into conformity to the rules and regulations 
made by grown people. Here is a typical concrete in- 
stance. A principal of a grammar school was re- 
cently heard scolding the pupils in the third and 
fourth grades. Upon inquiry it was learned that dur- 
ing the recess they had played in the street. There 
had been a heavy shower during the morning, so that 
some mud had formed in the street at the time of 
the intermission. Of course, the pupils found all 
the mud there was, and transported a good part of 
it into the school-room. The teachers and princi- 
pal were angry, and they showed it in voice and 
manner. As a penalty, the pupils were deprived of 
their forenoon recess for one week. Needless to say, 
this command was vigorously resisted by the pupils, 
but to no avail. Its enforcement, however, led to a 
good deal of conflict throughout the duration of 
the penalty, and it resulted in making both teachers 
and pupils unhappy. 

The pupils said in explanation of their conduct 
that they had no other place in which to play ; that 
they did not "mean to litter up the school-room" ; 
that thev were sorn^ for what thev had done, and so 



64 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

on. The teachers, on the other hand, said there was 
no real reason why they should play anyway. They 
had time enough to play after school. While they 
were at school they ought to "behave themselves". 
Now, right at this point comes the tragedy. The 
teachers do not vv^ant to play. They would rather 
keep quiet, and either rest or visit with one another. 
They can not understand why the children should not 
be willing to do the same. These particular teach- 
ers feel that the chief reason the pupils do not keep 
quiet is because they are heedless and mischievous. 
If they were well-disposed, they could control them- 
selves, and keep from getting in the mud. 

Probably the majority of grown people do not 
appreciate the absolute necessity of a child express- 
ing himself in a manner quite different from that of 
the adult. Adults are usually pleased to visit with 
one another, because they have interests that can 
be shared by mere talking. But nature has not pre- 
pared a third- or fourth-grade child so that he can 
enjoy his social relations in the way in which an 
^ adult does. Nature says to him : ''Play; don't sim- 
ply talk to your comrades, but run with them, com- 
pete with them in fleetness of foot, and in other 
ways." In a certain sense, a child has little power to 
control himself when nature is insistent. He must 
follow the lead of his impulses to a great extent. 



PROBLEMS OF DISCIPLINE 65 

Temporarily, of course, he may restrain an impulse ; 
but it is extremely difficult to get a school of five 
hundred pupils to restrain their play tendencies dur- 
ing an intermission of fifteen minutes. 

What should have been done in this situation? 
Should the pupils have been punished for lack of 
Positive methods thought fulness ? Should the teacher 
in discipline have anticipated what v^as likely to 

happen, and have suggested activities vi^hich v^ould 
have prevented this catastrophe? It certainly seems 
that the blame must be laid upon the shoulders of 
the teachers. Perhaps it was justifiable to inflict this 
penalty in order to develop in the child a sense of 
responsibility; but how much better it would have 
been all 'round if the occasion for it had been 
avoided. It can be said unqualifiedly that the con- 
trol of a large body of pupils can never be success- 
ful by the employment of negative methods princi- 
pally. If there is no opportunity for the use of posi- 
tive means in providing for legitimate activities, 
then it would seem to be wiser to ignore some sorts 
of conduct, which under other conditions would not 
be tolerated. At any rate, to enforce discipline from 
the point of view of the adult alone is a serious 
mistake. The supreme concern of the teacher must 
be to get the child's point of view, and to work out 
his discipline accordingly, though not of necessity 



66 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

conforming fully to the child's view on any occasion. 
But whatever methods of discipline are employed, 
it is safe to say the least successful will be mere 
negation of the natural tendencies of the young, and 
of boys especially. 



CHAPTER III 

FAIR PLAY IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM 

in a prosperous city of the West, there is a pub- 
lic school building situated at the intersection of 
A typical case re- two busy streets. There is al- 
quiring correction most no playground space at- 
tached to che school for the use of either the boys 
or the girls. On the opposite side of the street from 
the building is a narrow border of lawn, which the 
street commissioner has ordered should be kept free 
from trespass by the pupils. Early in the year he 
instructed the principal of the school to warn the 
children against encroaching thereupon, and so the 
principal sent word throughout the school that any 
pupil found on this forbidden spot would forfeit his 
intermissions. Now, there is in the sixth grade of 
this school a boy who is fond of games and plays 
with his fellows, and who likes to be in the thick 
of things whenever he can get the opportunity. Fur- 
ther, he is so constituted, as might be expected, that 
he must have a considerable amount of vigorous out- 

67 



\ > 

68 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

door exercise constantly in order to avoid more or 
less serious physical disturbance. 

Shortly after the principal issued her manifesto 
regarding the grass-plot, this boy was caught tres- 
passing by one of the teachers. Other boys were 
very near the danger line, but he was the only one 
who had actually offended. He was told by his 
teacher that he could not leave his room during 
any of the recesses for a month. He declared that 
he was not to blame for his apparently disobedient 
act ; the boys had pushed him against his will on to 
the lawn, which statement was, in all likelihood, 
true, for the boys with whom he played were pretty 
rough and fond of adventure. Quite thoughtlessly 
they wanted to see what would happen if they could 
get this boy caught on forbidden ground. How- 
ever, they did not feel moved to acknowledge that 
they were at fault ; and there was really no occasion 
for them to confess that they were guilty, for the 
teacher did not ask them, and the spirit of fair play 
was not highly developed in the school. 

After the boy had lost his recesses for two or 
three days, his parents realized that if this penalty 
should be long continued it would work ruin to the 
health of the victim. So they remonstrated with the 
teacher, but the latter resisted their petition for 
clemency, saying that the boy had broken a rule of 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 69 

the school, and he must suffer the penalty for dis- 
obedience. After one week, the parents removed 
him from the school, and he remained out for a 
while, being idle and wholly discontented during the 
time. At this writing he has just gone back to his 
work, and the matter has been adjusted so that he 
is not deprived of his recesses. But the parents are 
in mortal terror lest he will fall into trouble again, 
which will bring on another season of strain and 
stress and conflict with the teacher. 

Experienced reader, you who have been through 
many school-room trials, what would you have done 
in a case of this sort? Would it have been better 
for the principal to have defended her pupils 
against the demands of the street commissioner, and 
appealed to the citizens to assist her in resisting an 
unjust requirement, which made the problem of gov- 
ernment in that school a most trying one? If no re- 
lief from a serious burden could be had in this way, 
should the teacher have deferred to the parents' 
judgment regarding the treatment of the boy in 
question, substituting another punishment for the 
deprivation of his recesses? The teacher proceeded 
according to the doctrine of natural consequences, 
in which so many people have faith to-day, — if a 
pupil can not be at large and obey the rules of the 
school, then he must be confined so that he will not 



70 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

have an opportunity to break these rules. If the 
teacher had yielded to the demands of the parents, 
and let the boy go free, would it have been possible 
for her to maintain effective control over her school 
thereafter? Would it have been morally injurious 
to the boy to be pardoned, and thus to be relieved 
from the necessity of paying penalties for his mis- 
deeds, v^hen his parents begged mercy for him? 
Even if the infliction of this penalty should prove 
a hardship, and be in one sense an injustice, would 
the boy not take particular pains in the future to 
avoid getting into trouble again ? 

Suppose we attack this problem from another 
point of view. The boy maintained he was really 
Securing the co-op- not at fault ; he was the victim 
eration of pnpils in of the mischievous action of his 
cases of discipline playmates. Suppose the teacher 
or the principal had brought the matter before the 
school as a whole, taking as much time as might have 
been necessary in order to discuss it fully and frank- 
ly. First, the entire school could have been led to ap- 
preciate that the teacher in making her rules had 
simply obeyed instructions from the authorities of 
the city. Certainly pupils from the fourth grade on 
can be guided to see that when authorities make 
commands, even if they seem to be unjust, they must 
nevertheless be obeyed, unless those who made theni 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 71 

can be convinced that they are not fair, and so 
should be withdrawn. If it seemed clear that the 
order issued by the street superintendent was unfair, 
and that it ought to be rescinded, could not the prin- 
cipal have led the school to view the thing in a rea- 
sonably calm way, taking due account of the com- 
missioner's side of the case as well as their own? 
Could she not then have helped her pupils to see 
that a good plan might be to draw up a petition to 
be sent to the authorities, urging a reconsideration 
of the order? Meanwhile the pupils should obey the 
command, awaiting the outcome of their petition; 
this would seem reasonable to every one. If any in- 
dividual pupil failed to comply, then in fair play he 
should be made to suffer for lack of conformity to 
the rule, which was agreed to by the school as a 
whole, because it was reasonable and necessary. If 
any group of pupils should be the cause of getting 
one of their number into trouble, then in fair play 
again, that group should bear the penalty of the 
misdeed, rather than the particular individual who 
was made the instrument of their disobedience. 

But some teachers will ask, "How can the guilty 
group be detected, and their misdeed located upon 
them?" In any school where there is a reasonably 
wholesome sentiment, boys will insist upon fair 
play in such situations as the one in question. This 



J2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

is a factor in discipline that can be counted on al- 
ways. The instinct of the young from the eighth or 
ninth year forward is for square dealing, in a sort 
of crude way it is true; but nevertheless, they will 
demand fair play in the simple life on the play- 
ground. Even groups of boys who have trans- 
gressed the conventions and laws of the community 
in which they live, and have been sent to reform 
schools and other institutions — even such groups re- 
tain the elemental sense of fair play among them- 
selves. 

One can find in the city and rural schools in every 
part of the country principals and teachers who 
Pupils should not be know how to appeal to their 

cliallenged to a con- pupils, especially in the 

test of wits in discipline higher grades, so that the 
general spirit of square dealing can be made to pre- 
dominate in their group life. Of course, the views 
of boys and girls regarding fair play in subtle situa- 
tions is not so keen as it is among adults ordinarily, 
but it is sufficient in order to avoid most of the 
difficulties which occur on playgrounds, when the 
attempt is made to control the relations of boys al- 
together from the outside. When the principal 
makes the pupils in a school conscious that they are 
being watched, and if they are detected in error they 
will be punished, he is liable to develop in them the 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 73 

tendency to match their wits against his. If they 
can get the start of him, they regard it as perfectly 
justifiable. One who has opportunity to listen to the 
spontaneous talk of pupils, especially of boys when 
they are away from school, can not escape being con- 
vinced that much of our discipline is of the nature 
of a challenge to pupils to get the better of us if 
they can. 

The writer knows schools in which the sentiment 
of fair play has become so strong in the sixth, sev- 
enth, and eighth grades that no group of rough fel- 
lows could get an innocent boy into trouble, and lie 
about their conduct, without drawing upon them- 
selves the condemnation of their fellows. The pupils 
as a whole know what is going on. They can tell 
what individuals or groups are likely to create a dis- 
turbance, even if the teacher can not detect them. 
And when an appeal is made to this sense of fair 
play, without any moralizing, but simply in a hearty, 
vigorous way, a principal or teacher can avoid such 
a playground tragedy as was described at the begin- 
ning of this chapter. If the boy in question had real- 
ly been the victim of a group, that group would have 
acknowledged their guilt. If they had offended but 
had claimed innocence, the school as a whole could 
ordinarily have been trusted to act effectively in re- 
gard to the matter. 



74 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Before taking final leave of this special topic, we 
should notice a very important trait of childhood, 
Group which is often the cause of much trouble in 
loyalty the school-room. And to illustrate with a 
concrete instance: a ten-year-old boy, upon return- 
ing home from school recently, complained bitterly 
of his teacher because she had kept him after hours 
as a punishment for not giving her some facts he 
possessed regarding the misconduct of one of his 
playmates. He stubbornly refused to tell on his 
companion, and the teacher as stubbornly insisted 
that he would have to stay every night after school 
for a half-hour, until he became docile and obeyed 
her commands. He felt it would ''queer" him with 
the boys if he should "tattle" on one of the group, 
and she thought he was wilfully disobedient, because 
he did not help her to find the offender against the 
law and order of the school. This is a typical case 
of discipline arising in many schools, and it is often 
a source of serious discomfiture alike to the teacher 
and to the pupils. 

Any one who knows the by-laws of boy life un- 
derstands that "tattling" is regarded as about the 
worst possible offense in a member of a school or a 
gang. One of the first lessons which groups of boys, 
and often girls as well, teach a new-comer is that he 
must stand by the crowd, and not "tell" on any 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 75 

one. He must keep its secrets against all inquisitors, 
whether teacher, minister, or policeman. To be 
loyal to the members of your set is a funda- 
mental law of any group, and this has proven 
of tremendous service in the development of so- 
ciety. However, this thing is doubtless carried 
too far often, by boys especially, who keep secrets 
which they ought to make public for the good of 
their crowd, as well as for effective discipline in the 
school and on the street. 

But it does not seem to be a wise course for a 
teacher to go after an individual boy, and try to 
overcome his impulse to shield an offender who hap- 
pens to be a member of his "crowd". It would 
probably prove much more satisfactory to all con- 
cerned if the teacher would deal with the group as 
a whole, and endeavor to develop therein a keen 
sense of fair play in the relations of the pupils to 
herself, so that any individual would not feel he 
would lose caste with his set if he should give pub- 
licity to offenses against reasonable rules of order, 
but rather he would gain with the crowd. It surely 
is possible for a school group to be made to appre- 
ciate that necessary rules must be insisted upon, and 
it will be better for every one if these are observed 
without any failure. If, then, one member of the 
group will not conform to the rules, but under- 



y(i EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

handedly breaks them, his conduct must be brought 
to the light in order that he may receive his just 
deserts. A mode of procedure Hke this will preserve 
the group's feeling of loyalty among its members, 
and it will at the same time enable the teacher to se- 
cure the cooperation of her pupils in bringing of- 
fenders to justice, without any particular child be- 
ing singled out as a "tittle-tattle". This sort of pro- 
cedure is being followed with the greatest success 
in newsboys' associations and similar groups, in 
which the boys are less responsive than are school 
pupils to an appeal to the sense of fair play. 

Many of these problems we have been consider- 
ing arise from the fact that pupils do not have the 
Gaining the re- proper respect for the teacher, 
spect of pupils whatever may be the reason for 
this. Have you ever happened upon a group of 
lively boys who were expressing themselves freely 
regarding you and your work? If you have heard 
them find fault with you, what has been your atti- 
tude in the matter, alike toward the boys and toward 
the faults of which they complain? Have you acted 
on the assumption that your pupils o.ught to respect 
you anyway, simply be'cause you are in the position 
of teacher? Have you argued that if they do not 
respect you it is because they have not been properly 
trained, or that they are naturally vicious? And 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM ^^ 

have you attempted to develop different attitudes in 
them by punishing them, or perhaps by delivering 
a general lecture before your school upon the sub- 
ject of "Respect for Teachers"? 

What would you do in a case of this kind? A 
group of boys averaging eleven years of age are 
classmates in the sixth grade of a public school in 
a western city. They come from the "best" homes 
in that city. They have from infancy listened to 
conversation upon a great variety of topics relating 
to current events, to historical incidents, to art and 
music, to the phenomena of nature, to ethical and 
moral conduct, and the like. They have had oppor- 
tunity to engage in all sorts of games and plays. 
Most of the boys have had gymnastic apparatus in 
their own homes, in the use of which they have de- 
veloped skill and courage. They have organized 
foot-ball and base-ball teams. Taken as a group they 
can ride horseback and on a bicycle; skate, coast, 
play hockey; row, swim, and fish; shoot straight 
with the bow and the gun ; use tools with consider- 
able success; — in short they can "do things". But 
they do not know as much arithmetic or history, or 
geography as they should; and they do not know 
how to write good English, as they will need to do 
in maturity; and their parents send them to school 
to have these deficiencies corrected. 



78 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The teacher in this sixth grade has not had so 
broad and varied experiences as these boys have had. 
She can not use tools effectively, or row, or swim, or 
shoot, or ride a horse or a bicycle ; she can not per- 
form on gymnastic apparatus, or play foot-ball or 
base-ball; she is not good on the ice or the snow; 
and what is most serious of all, she has not read so 
widely as have most of these boys, and she has not 
listened to as cultivated conversation. So they are 
really superior to her in all these respects. She is 
not so strong physically as most of the boys, nor in 
as vigorous health, partly because of the severity of 
her labor, and also because of the serious way in 
which she takes her work, due largely to the fact 
that she is rather conscious of her limitations, so 
that she feels the necessity of being somewhat stern 
and austere in order to prevent any expression of 
disrespect from her pupils. 

The boys comment upon her physical weakness, 
and some of them remark unpleasantly upon her 
Why pupils lose their lack of varied experience in 
respect for a teacher life. She has not traveled as 
much as a few of them have ; and when she teaches 
them geography she is dependent usually upon the 
formal statements of the book, while some of her 
pupils have seen the objects and places described, 
and they can fill in with concrete, first-hand facts 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 79 

which the teacher, most unfortunately, tends to re- 
press, because she does not know them herself. She 
is inclined to criticize pupils if they do not recite 
the words of the book, and stop at that. These boys 
have discovered, whether by their own insight or as 
a result of the comments of injudicious parents, that 
the teacher takes this attitude probably because of 
her shortcomings. Only one consequence can fol- 
low from this ; her pupils are rapidly losing their re- 
spect for her. 

This teacher shows up at her worst when she at- 
tempts to lead these boys in physical exercises in the 
school. She tries to set them a model for their imi- 
tation ; but they are much more expert in the use of 
their arms and bodies than is she. They are quite 
ready in exhibiting their superiority, but she is self- 
conscious in respect to her abilities, and she scolds 
them for their ^'smartness." Inevitably this arouses 
antagonism and resistance in them, and they are 
looking for occasions to show their disrespect for 
her. The situation is an unfortunate one for all con- 
cerned. The teacher is really having a hard time 
of it, and the pupils are not profiting greatly by 
their school experiences. Indeed, some of them are 
being injured, because they sit in their seats day 
after day in this indocile attitude, which is likely to 
become a fixed habit with them. Nothing could be 



8o EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

more disastrous to any individual than to become 
habitually disrespectful toward those in authority. 

What course should the teacher follow in this par- 
ticular case? It seems that the first thing for her to 
Gaining the assistance do would be to become per- 
of capable pupils fectly frank with her pupils 

in acknowledging her limitations, and in recognizing 
their superiority in any direction in which they can 
excel her. Take, for example, a recitation in geog- 
raphy. If she should freely and without embar- 
rassment say to her class that she had not seen 
Gibraltar, for instance, while she knew members of 
the class had seen it; and if she should cheerfully in- 
vite these latter ones to tell all they knew about it — 
to become for the time being teachers of the class 
on that topic — she would score several points in her 
favor. She would stand a good chance of winning 
the confidence and good will of her pupils; and they 
would be likely to admire her for her frankness, 
instead of finding fault with her for her lack of ex- 
perience. Moreover, the class would profit more 
from such instruction than from what she is able to 
give them. A teacher should endeavor early to dis- 
cover the activities In the school In which she can be 
a true leader, and win the respect of her pupils, and 
then she should concentrate her efforts upon these 
matters. Frankness and good sense in reference to 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 8i 

failings will help greatly to solve such a situation as 
the one that has been described ; while the exhibition 
of anger, faultfinding, and suspicion will be fatal, 
alike to discipline and to teaching. 

A teacher often loses the good will and respect of 
his pupils because he is not fair or consistent in his 
School-room injustice demands. Take, for example, 
breeds disrespect the following concrete in- 

stances. The writer was recently an observer in the 
eighth grade of a city school. The teacher was a 
graduate of an eastern college for women, and she 
appeared to be well-informed upon the subjects she 
was teaching. But she had got the impression from 
some source that accuracy and speed were greatly 
to be desired in education, and she strove to attain 
these desirable qualities in much of her work, es- 
pecially in mathematics, spelling, and all written ex- 
ercises. The outcome of her method was especially 
apparent in her class in arithmetic. She dictated 
problems to her pupils, first warning them that she 
would give them but twenty minutes in which to 
write and solve seven of them. While the pupils 
were working, she urged them onward every three 
or four minutes in such terms as, "make haste" ; 
''you are not working fast enough" ; 'T don't want 
any laggards in this school"; ''som.e of you might 
better be back in the seventh grade than here." 



S2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Other stimulating remarks like these were thrown 
out during the progress of the exercise. 

At the completion of the twenty minutes, all work 
ceased. The papers were exchanged and marked. 
Then they were returned to their respective authors, 
and the errors computed. It was found that most of 
the pupils made at least one error; and some of them 
made nothing but errors. Then the teacher "sailed 
into" these latter unhappy individuals. She asked 
them why they did not take time enough to do their 
work accurately. She said : "If there is anything I 
can't stand it is mistakes. One who makes mistakes 
isn't good for anything. If you can't do work more 
accurately you better go back to the third or fourth 
grade, and learn how to do it." 

After the dismissal of the school for the day, the 
writer overheard two boys talking about the teacher. 
They said : "She yells at you if you don't hurry. 
Then if you do hurry and make mistakes, she yells 
at you because you hurry. There is no way you can 
keep her from yelling at you, anyway," and so on. 
The moral seems to be that if one must "yell" at 
pupils, he should try to have his "yelling" all along 
the same line, so that they will not get the impres- 
sion that he is inconsistent and unjust. 

A certain grammar school in a large city is situ- 
ated on two very busy and very noisy streets. Even 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 83 

Other when the windows are closed, one can hear 
cases ^i^Q. clatter of hoofs, the rattle of wagons, 
and the jargon of drivers and pedestrians. The 
sixth-grade room in this school is so located that it 
gets all the noise of the street when the windows are 
open; and even when they are shut it is impossible 
to keep it out. The teacher in this room usually sits 
behind her desk and dictates words in spelling, gives 
explanations when they are asked for ; and in short, 
she conducts all her work from this position. The 
children in the rear of the room often can not hear 
what is said. If they raise their hands as a sign that 
they have not understood, she charges them with 
being inattentive, and holds them up to the scorn 
and ridicule of their classmates. She makes it so 
unpleasant for them if they complain about her 
voice that they usually hesitate to inform her when 
they can not understand her, and they generally pre- 
fer not to hear what she says, than to take the 
chances of being scolded if they raise their hands. 
As a result the children in the rear often make mis- 
takes, which are due solely to the fact that they can 
not hear the words which are pronounced, or the 
directions which are given. Then they are upbraided 
because they make errors. 

Still another case may be mentioned. A certain 
teacher, who has been teaching for many years, has 



84 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

fallen into the habit of holding examinations for 
three or four days at the opening of school each 
year. She makes these examinations "stiff", be- 
cause she says she does not want any children in 
her grade "who haven't brains." Twenty minutes 
after the pupils are in her room on the first day of 
school, she gives an examination in grammar. She 
asks of these eighth-grade pupils numerous ques- 
tions which could not be answered by their parents, 
some of whom are "highly educated." These pu- 
pils have, of course, not been thinking about gram- 
mar for at least nine weeks. What brains they pos- 
sess have lost the grammatical habit more or less 
during the nine weeks of out-of-door life, but the 
teacher has refreshed herself on these important 
matters, so that she may be ready to display her 
learning before her pupils. 

Following grammar comes one examination after 
another. As might be expected, there are a good 
many failures. Even the best pupils make numerous 
errors. Then comes the season of strain and stress, 
when the teacher tells the pupils what she thinks 
about them. We have it on the best of authority 
that for at least twelve years this teacher has told 
every new class that they were the most ignorant 
good-for-nothings she had ever had. She threatens 
to exclude a third or a half of the class, sending 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 85 

them back one or two or three grades "where they 
belong". Usually several pupils are prevented from 
going on in her room; and once she refuses to re- 
ceive a pupil, nothing will do but that he must spend 
a whole year some place else. In the past, the prin- 
cipal and the superintendent have intervened in cer- 
tain cases but without success. They say the teacher 
is so strong in most ways that they think it better 
she should be humored in this one regard. 

Some teachers think it is a sign of their own high 
standards if they find fault with the work of the 
teachers who have preceded them, and humiliate 
every new class that comes to them. In discussing 
this matter recently a prominent city superintendent 
said : "I think I have succeeded in impressing upon 
each one of my teachers the conception that it is 
their business to take any pupil sent to them and 
teach him according to his needs, and not to find 
fault with what he has previously had. If one of 
my teachers gives an examination at the opening of 
school, she does it for the purpose of finding out 
how she is to instruct her class, rather than to com- 
plain over what they do not know. No teacher in 
my force ever tells me but once how poorly her 
children have been taught by the teachers who have 
preceded her." It would seem that this would be a 
good policy for all superintendents to adopt, 



86 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The teacher last referred to seems to find pleasure 
in takmg the heart out of some of her pupils. She 
Feeling^s of success, tells them they do not amount 
not of failure to anything, and probably never 

will. This attitude, frequently to be noted in teach- 
ers, suggests a very important principle of disci- 
pline. One point of view respecting it may be pre- 
sented in a quotation from an educational article in 
which a professor gives expression to some pessi- 
mistic views respecting certain tendencies in mod- 
ern schools. He says in part : 

"Teachers do not make pupils feel the seriousness 
of their work so much as they did when I began 
teaching. In those days we never hesitated to make 
a pupil bear the misfortunes of his conduct, or his 
failure to prepare his work properly. We used to 
think that it was even a better discipline of pupils 
to make them conscious of their failures than to 
reward them for their successes. Now teachers 
seem to take a different view of this matter. And 
I should like to ask how pupils are to gain in 
strength if they are not made conscious of their 
shortcomings so they can guard against them and 
rise above them. I would rather a boy of mine 
should learn that if he ever makes a mistake he is 
going to hear from it, than to have his successful 
work made too prominent. The method that was in 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 87 

fashion when I started teaching produced strong 
men, and I doubt whether the modern methods can 
accomplish so much." 

As to the question whether it is better to make a 
pupil more conscious of his failures than of his suc- 
cesses in order to develop his moral and intellectual 
vigor, the present writer takes a view contrary to 
that of the author quoted above. It is a simple 
principle of human nature, that if you magnify 
one's failures you are more likely to weaken than to 
strengthen him. Let a person endeavor to speak to 
his fellow citizens, say fifteen times, and fail every 
time. It is practically certain that he will fail the 
sixteenth time and every time thereafter, unless he 
ceases trying for a period, and has experiences 
which will give him feelings of success. As long as 
he is possessed by the fear of failure, the chances 
are he will fail. Nothing could be more simple than 
this, or more freely illustrated in the happenings of 
daily life. 

What we want to do as a rule is to fill the minds 
of our pupils with the thought of themselves as suc- 
ceeding in whatever they undertake. Of course, if 
they are careless or indifferent or reckless, and in 
consequence thereof fail in what they take up, then 
they must temporarily be made exceedingly con- 
scious of their failures in order that they may exer- 



88 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

cise caution, and give proper attention to the task 
to be performed. But as speedily as possible the 
consciousness of failure must be supplanted by that 
of success. A child who is not succeeding in spell- 
ing, say, so that he is required to go to the foot of 
his class every day for a time, is likely to become 
dominated by the fixed idea that he can not stay at 
the top no matter what he may do, and he will in- 
evitably be hai-med by getting into this frame of 
mind. If there is any way to give him the feeling of 
himself succeeding in competition with his fellows, 
the teacher must make full use of this. She must 
arouse the consciousness of failure only as a pre- 
liminary to putting greater emphasis upon success. 
Suppose one should review the work of a single 
day in any school, and should find that most of what 
the teacher has said has related to failure of one sort 
or another, and that in her relations with individual 
children she has constantly emphasized their faults. 
What would probably be the outcome upon pupils 
of that day in school? Let any teacher go over his 
own experience in this regard, and see whether he 
has been helped most by encouraging or by discour- 
aging suggestions. Who has done him the most 
good, the friend who has talked to him about his 
successes, or the one who has constantly held be- 
fore him his weaknesses? In this connection a 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 89 

teacher might consider whether she will help or 
will injure pupils by prophesying failure in much 
of what they undertake to do. 

The principle of making success and good behavior 
more prominent than the opposite in any school- 
As a rule, correc- room suggests a vital problem 
tion should be in- of discipline which different 
dividual and private teachers solve in different 
ways, as illustrated in the following cases. In a 
city in the Middle West, two teachers have in their 
care pupils of about the same age and of the same 
general character. Some of the pupils in both these 
classes come from homes where courtesy and gen- 
tleness prevail, while other pupils come from homes 
of a notably different sort. So the problems of dis- 
cipline in these rooms are unusually difficult. The 
children from the so-called better homes are accus- 
tomed to a good deal of freedom, and they do not 
always know how to interpret the attitude of the 
teacher who chastises them for activities which are 
thought to be entirely proper in their own homes, 
and for which they are often commended by their 
parents and friends. The children from the so- 
called poorer homes are rather callous to the ordi- 
nary disciplinary measures of the teacher; and her 
complaints and comments on their behavior slip off 
their minds as easily as water runs off a duck's back. 



90 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The teachers who have charge of these classes at 
present show very different conceptions of how their 
problems should be solved. In one room the teacher 
always gives publicity to each case of correction. 
She corrects any individual pupil in such a way that 
every one in the room can hear her criticisms. She 
has the habit of speaking to the school as a whole, 
usually at the opening exercises in the morning, of 
the typical sorts of misconduct which should be 
guarded against. Being under strain and stress, her 
voice reflects her tension so that pupils usually feel 
she is complaining. The effect of this method upon 
the school is to give prominence to the work of cor- 
rection, so that this is really more conspicuous than 
the instruction itself. The pupils all feel it, though 
they are not always explicitly conscious of each case 
of discipline. But nevertheless the air is surcharged 
with criticism, faultfinding, and the administering 
of penalties; and these are the matters pupils talk 
about outside of school. 

The second teacher referred to pursues an alto- 
gether different method in the discipline of her 
It should also room. She rarely speaks to a pupil 
be quiet by way of correction before the en- 

tire class. If she finds it necessary to *'talk to" any 
child during the progress of the work, she goes to his 
seat, and speaks to him as privately and quietly as 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 91 

possible. Of course, the class may realize that disci- 
pline is being administered, but it is accomplished so 
inconspicuously that it is rather impressive than ir- 
ritating. Quietness and privacy are the predomi- 
nant characteristics of this method. Now, quietude 
in the leader of a group always suggests quietude to 
those who are being led. And the opposite of this 
is equally true. Much of the discipline of this room 
occurs when most of the pupils are not present at 
all. During the day the teacher jots down the names 
of those who need to be restrained in respect to some 
tendency, and she invites them to remain with her 
after school. She then has a conference with each 
one privately, so that the full force of what she 
says may be spent on him alone. In nine cases out 
of ten probably — though not in every instance — this 
will have a much better effect than to try to disci- 
pline an individual when there are fifty onlookers, 
who usually sympathize with the victim. In the lat- 
ter case, the force of criticism or exhortation is apt 
to be nullified; though if the group be in thorough 
sympathy with the teacher's program, and reinforce 
her commands, the result will be more beneficial 
than it could be under a different method. But the 
constant public presentation of criticism will fail in 
the end to secure the right sort of response from the 
school as a whole. Occasionally it should be used 



92 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

in serious cases of discipline, and then it may be a 
valuable aid to the teacher. 

As a general proposition, it can be stated unquali- 
fiedly that he is the best disciplinarian who deals 
most directly with individual offenders, and he is 
the least successful who makes all his discipline so 
conspicuous that every one is affected by it, thus 
creating an atmosphere of unrest and disorder. The 
chief aim of the teacher should be to make the le- 
gitimate work of the school most prominent. His 
voice should be heard in praise and instruction far 
more frequently and predominantly than in fault- 
finding and correction. Often teachers get into the 
habit of complaining about restlessness and noise in 
a room, charging the entire group with misconduct, 
when only certain individuals are at fault. This is 
wrong ; it tends to spread disorder in the room, and 
to impress it upon the minds of pupils as the really 
vital thing in a school. Ask a pupil in such a school 
what has happened during any day, and he will be 
likely to speak of cases of discipline, and of the an- 
gry expressions of the teacher. It is human nature 
perhaps to follow the plan of criticizing and com- 
plaining publicly when matters are not going right 
in a school-room; but one must fight against the 
tendency, and deliberately cultivate a different mode 
of procedure in this important phase of teaching. 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 93 

Before leaving the subject of fair play in the 
school-room, something should be said regarding the 
The problem of chief source of conflict between 

communication in the majority of teachers and 
the school-room their pupils, though it has been 
referred to in the preceding chapter. In all times 
teachers have been troubled with the problem of 
communication. Young teachers especially are gen- 
erally much perplexed over the apparently uncon- 
trollable impulse of children to "whisper" in the 
school-room. It does not take long for a novice even 
to realize that if the work of the school is to be ac- 
complished, pupils must concentrate their attention 
upon the tasks in hand ; which is not likely to be the 
case if they commune with one another whenever 
they "feel like it". The chances are that in such 
communication they will discuss topics foreign to 
their studies. In the consideration of this subject at 
a recent teachers' convention, all those who spoke 
upon it maintained that when communication is 
permitted during school hours, the attention of the 
children is usually distracted, because they do not 
talk about their work. The interests they wish to 
visit about lie outside of the school, and concern the 
incidental happenings in the school-room. Often 
they will communicate regarding some peculiarity 
of the teacher in manner or dress, or some trait of 



94 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

a classmate which tends to excite hostiHty or ridi- 
cule. Probably most teachers will agree that the 
legitimate work of the school does not stimulate 
children to communicate with one another as do 
most extra-school activities. Herein lies the chief 
difficulty in respect to communication in the school- 
room. 

We ought at the outset to appreciate that the im- 
pulse to communicate is one of the deepest and most 
The impulse to urgent tendencies in child life. Evi- 
communicate dently nature says to a human be- 
ing: "Share your experiences with your fel- 
lows. Tell them all that happens to you, and try 
to get them to tell you their experiences. Talk over 
the traits of other people with your friends and as- 
sociates. Keep nothing to yourself, and do not let 
other people conceal their experiences from you. 
By making everything public in this way, you will 
give others the benefits of your experience, and you 
will at the same time profit by their experiences, so 
that whenever anything valuable has been discov- 
ered all may profit by it. Also, if you express your- 
self freely regarding the traits of those around you, 
you will as a rule help to conserve what is best and 
to eliminate what is objectionable in the conduct 
of people. If every one will talk about these mat- 
ters freely, a sort of public opinion will be estab- 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 95 

lished, and this will effectually control the behavior 
of most persons to whom it relates. If you do not 
communicate with others respecting their experi- 
ences and your own, and if you do not present your 
point of view regarding other people and get their 
opinions regarding you, then every one will be 
likely to go on in his own way, and it will be im- 
possible to determine what really is permissible in 
people's actions, and in what respects they ought to 
restrain themselves.'* 

Any teacher who will observe a child from two 
years on, can not fail to note that his most absorb- 
ing ambition is to have people react upon what he 
does. If he builds a toy house in his nursery, he 
teases every one in his home to come and examine 
it. What he wants is their approval; but if they 
should condemn it, or be indifferent regarding it, it 
would be a sign to him that he ought to abandon 
that sort of activity. To give a better example: 
suppose he catches a bird, and begins to pull off its 
wings, and he calls to every one around to ob- 
serve him. Suppose people react in a hostile way to 
his performance. Let them show in their faces, in 
their bodily attitudes, and in what they say that they 
disapprove of this conduct. The chances are that 
the child will not try it again ; in many cases one ex- 
perience will be sufficient. But suppose that instead 



96 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

of condemning him for his action, the people praise 
him for it. Suppose they laugh at what he does, and 
so make him feel that he is doing a clever thing that 
others enjoy, which is just what is likely to happen 
in a typical "gang". In such a case the boy will re- 
gard his act as a means of entertainment for others, 
and one way of gaining distinction for himself; and 
he will be likely to repeat it every time he gets a 
chance, when he thinks there is any one around to 
appreciate it. 

The instances cited are very simple, commonplace 
illustrations of the passion of the child to have others 
view his thoughts and his actions in order that he 
may discover which ones will please the people 
around him and bring distinction to himself, and 
which ones will arouse the hostility of others, or win 
him a bad reputation. Of course, the young child 
is not very sensitive regarding his "reputation," ex- 
cept in respect to a very few matters, such as being a 
"coward," or being "mean," and so on. But as he 
develops he becomes increasingly anxious to have a 
good reputation in respect to more and more subtle 
qualities of body, intellect, and character, and he is 
always eager to express himself in the presence of 
others so as to secure their approval for the acts 
which he regards as most worth while. It can be 
seen that without this trait social adjustment would 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 97 

be impossible. If a child should live to himself 
alone, without caring to express himself in the pres- 
ence of others, or to have them express themselves 
in his presence, he could not become a social being. 
Communication between people is the fundamental 
requirement for the development of social feeling 
and social ability. 

Before the child comes to school he is usually 
given great freedom in sharing his experiences with 
Outside of school ^^^ose around him. Parents or- 
the child is encour- dinarily allow their children to 
ag^ed to commiini- communicate freely on every 
cate freely topic which interests them, and 

to solicit communications from their playmates. 
Perhaps at table the child may be given some lessons 
in restraining his passion to express himself. But 
in modern American life children are granted a 
large measure of freedom to express themselves at 
table, and in all other situations in which they are 
commonly placed. Indeed, children who tell their 
experiences readily are regarded with more favor 
in America than are those who are inhibited in this 
respect. Free communication is, as a matter of fact, 
generally rewarded outside of the school-room, so 
the tendency is actually fostered in children, at least 
in present-day American homes. Thus when the 
child comes to school he is really without much, if 



98 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

any, experience which has taught him while in the 
presence of others to "hold his tongue". 

Fortunately the atmosphere of the school-room is 
usually different from that of his home or of the 
street, and this tends to restrain him in a measure. 
The more he feels the dignity of the teacher and the 
school-room, the more inclined he is to be self- 
restrained, and to become attentive to the expres- 
sions of the teacher and of his associates. In most 
familiar situations outside of the school, the child 
spontaneously expresses himself as the occasion re- 
quires; but in the class-room, where the whole 
regime suggests that action should be based upon 
the initiative of the teacher, he is apt to concentrate 
his attention upon the teacher as a leader, instead of 
heedlessly following his own promptings. In an 
environment in which he feels perfectly at home, 
the individual generally seeks to take the lead; but 
in a new and strange environment the tendency is 
for him to become a learner. Now, if the teacher 
can keep him in this attitude, so that he may con- 
tinue to feel the dignity and importance of the 
school-room, he will be likely to remain docile, seek- 
ing constantly to discern the teacher's plans, and 
striving eagerly to follow her directions. In such a 
case he will not give much trouble on account of 
^'whispering", because he will feel the necessity of 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 99 

apprehending the expressions of the teacher and of 
his associates, whenever the latter are asked by 
the teacher to express themselves. 

The best way to control the evils of communica- 
tion is to keep pupils in a learning, docile attitude. 
The most effective so that they will be alert always 
way to control the to the suggestions which the 
evils of communi- teacher makes, and aim to fol- 
(^^^^on 1q^ them. If they can be made 

to see that the regular work of the school is interest- 
ing, and that it is worth while to master it and to 
show that they are getting it in the proper way by 
expressing themselves when they are given oppor- 
tunity to do so by the teacher, then their communica- 
tions will be legitimate, because they will concern the 
proper activities of the school. The problem is one 
of really making the work of the school dominant in 
the class-room. In every well-governed school-room 
pupils are made to feel that the best way to attain 
distinction is to show a mastery of the regular 
duties. Doubtless some readers will object to this, 
because they think it improper to commend a pupil 
in any way for excellence in the work of the school. 
But until human nature is fundamentally changed, 
it will be necessary in order to stimulate pupils to 
give proper attention to the work of the school and 
to restrain tendencies hostile thereto, to cause them 



loo EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

to realize that when they do adapt themselves to the 
regime of the class-room and express themselves 
effectually regarding it, their faithful and successful 
work will become known to classmates, to parents, 
and to others. Possibly their names will be pub- 
lished in the city paper even, and thus their distinc- 
tion will go beyond the confines of the school-room. 
It is certain that harmful communication in the 
school-room can not be satisfactorily controlled when 
Devices for ^^^ pupils feel that it is not of much 
suppressing account to stand well in the regular 
communica- work. Many teachers resort to all 
*^°^ sorts of devices to restrain communica- 

tion, except the most effective one of teaching in such 
a vital, vigorous way that the interests of the school 
predominate over those of the life outside. Pupils 
are made to report at night how many times they 
have whispered during the day; tasks are assigned 
as penalties for whispering; the seats of the pupils 
are shifted about frequently to see if communication 
can not be restrained by changing seat mates; and 
often pupils are kept after school for whispering, or 
whipped for it. But really, punishment can not per- 
manently restrain communication to any appreciable 
extent, though it may be the only remedy on certain 
occasions. But if pupils can not actually whisper, 
they may nevertheless communicate constantly 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM loi 

through the eye, or by means of grimace, gesture, 
"deaf-and-dumb language", or bodily contortion. 
One may see school-rooms in which certain pupils are 
communicating constantly, though they may not 
speak a word to one another. The only way to con- 
trol such pupils is to get hold of them in some way on 
the side of their interests; or if this is impossible, to 
eliminate them from the school-room. Sometimes one 
finds pupils who can not be made to appreciate the 
work of the school, and who have a hostile attitude 
toward it. Such pupils tend to ridicule the school 
and its work. They may strive to annoy the teacher, 
and to distract others from their duties. In short, 
they may try in every way they can to upset the 
order of the school. They ought to be removed, and 
put together in a school where their special needs 
can be properly looked after. 

The evil of communication in any school-room 
could be greatly lessened if frequent intervals could 
be arranged for, during which there could be com- 
plete freedom for pupils to visit with one another. 
Suppose that with young children there should be 
three minutes of visiting after twenty -minute periods 
of study or recitation. This would serve to release 
the tension which is developed when pupils can not 
communicate. During the three-minute intermis- 
sions, pupils could gratify the passion to express 



I02 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

themselves spontaneously, and they would then come 
back to the regular work in a different attitude from 
that which they will have if kept at their tasks 
without a break. It could be made to seem reason- 
able to pupils that if any particular individual could 
not restrain himself during the period of work, he 
should forfeit the period of relaxation. If the 
pupils as a whole will not preserve silence during the 
working period, then the relaxation period will 
have to be withdrawn. It is in accordance with 
human nature that one should deny himself pleas- 
ure for the moment in order that he may secure it 
in more abundant measure later on, and it is proper 
that the teacher should utilize this in the discipline 
of her school 

It should be appreciated that harmful communica- 
tion in the school-room is dependent in large meas- 
ure on the personality of the teacher. A "weak" per- 
sonality can not control the spontaneous impulses 
of the young. It is a simple psychological situation. 
Pupils come into school bringing with them interests 
which have engaged their attention outside. If the 
life of the school-room is not stronger than that 
without, then they are going to keep on with this 
extra-school life, even in the class-room. That is to 
say, they will communicate about it, and will make 
fun of the situations in the school. We all tend to 



FAIR PLAY IN SCHOOL-ROOM 103 

follow in the lead of a strong personality, while we 
always try to dominate those weaker than our- 
selves, or at least we refuse to be led by them. So 
in the school-room, one must be a leader in a large 
sense in order to cause pupils to give attention to the 
legitimate work. One who by nature is lacking in 
the quality of leadership, which will command the 
attention and obeisance of pupils, ought to abandon 
the teaching profession, for otherwise his days will 
be full of misery. He might succeed admirably in 
a situation in which the quality of leadership was 
not essential ; but it is the chief requisite in the suc- 
cessful control of the school-room. 



CHAPTER IV 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 

The writer has been examining a large number of 
programs of teachers' associations, with a view to 
noting what topics are most frequently discussed in 
our times. In many of them appears the subject, 
"Teaching Children to Think". Looking up the pro- 
ceedings of some of the associations for the last few 
years, and reading what has been said on this topic, 
it seems that a majority of those who have dis- 
cussed it maintain that there is some definite for- 
mula for thinking which can be taught the young. 
Various rules are given for developing thought in 
children ; but it will not be worth while to reproduce 
them here. The present writer believes that prac- 
tically all of these rules are mainly verbal and 
formal, and prove useless when applied in the school- 
room. It is hardly in accord with present-day psy- 
chology to speak of teaching the potver of thinking, 
as though It were an art dissociated from the actual 
processes of thought. AVhen an individual inter- 
prets any immediate experience in the light of past 

104 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 105 

experiences, so that he can adjust himself aright 
to the new thing, he is thinking in a vital way. 
Whenever he reacts upon the phenomena occurring 
about him so that he can trace the causal relations 
between them, he is thinking. The only function of 
thought is to organize experience and use it to help 
one adjust oneself to new situations. 

Is it impossible, then, to develop in a novice the 
ability to think, as the phrase is popularly used? 
necessity the If we can, from the beginning, put a 
spur to clear pupil in situations where he must dis- 
thinking cover the vital connections between 

objects and phenomena in order to adapt himself to 
them, we can give him a set in the direction of trying 
always to find true relations. The race has devel- 
oped the power of thought through endeavoring to 
secure more complete control over the environment. 
No one would ever acquire thinking ability unless 
he were in need of it to gratify his curiosity, or to 
minister to his wants of one kind or another. Neces- 
sity is the mother of intellectual acumen. If one 
should put pupils in a seat and ask them to memorize 
the words of a text-book; and if he should then test 
their success in learning by requiring them to repro- 
duce the words verbatim, he could not arouse gen- 
uine thinking activity in these pupils, no matter what 
formulae he might employ. The human mind is not 



io6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

built on that plan. The chief reason why pupils do 
not learn to think as we wish them to is because our 
teaching situations often do not require thought, in 
the sense in which we use the terni. Many of our 
school-room exercises employ verbal memory largely, 
if not wholly. 

When a pupil is required to make a box, say, of 
prescribed dimensions, and for a definite purpose, 
he has a constant and unvarying standard by which 
to test the efficiency of his thinking. When he is 
brought face to face with a concrete situation where 
things must be made to fit together, or operate to- 
gether, then he is compelled to think, and he is made 
sooner or later to realize that he can not go on in 
a mechanical, verbal way, and come out right. 
Whenever a person is obliged to make things work, 
he will think as effectively as it is possible for him 
to do. If in our teaching we can arrange a program 
of exercises of this concrete, dynamic character, we 
can keep pupils thinking up to the limit of their con- 
stantly enlarging capacity. Really the art of teach- 
ing consists mainly in realizing this plan to its full- 
est extent in all studies — in arithmetic, geography, 
nature study, language, and all the rest. It should 
be recognized in this connection that some of the 
greatest thinkers among us have never been trained 
in the schools; and some of the men one knows 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 107 

who have been through all the schools are babes in 
thinking ability. Of course, these are extreme in- 
stances, but they illustrate the psychological law in- 
volved in the problem before us. 

The more one sees of teaching the more convinced 
he becomes that the genuinely successful teacher is 
The supreme the one who knows how to bring pu- 
test of a good pils to the point where they can see 
method things as they are, and can discover 

the causal relations between experiences. In school- 
rooms where pupils have got into the habit of going 
to class and reciting memoriter the words and rules 
they have learned, the skilful teacher will follow 
them right through, and cause them to deal with 
concrete cases and illustrations, in order to show 
whether they actually know what they are talking 
about, or whether they are just reciting. There is 
no cut-and-dried method of accomplishing this, but 
it ought to be the chief concern of teachers from the 
kindergarten through the university. In this way, 
pupils may be got into an attitude or habit of think- 
ing, so that in due time they will, as a matter of 
course, endeavor to discover the causal connections 
between all their experiences, which, as we have 
seen, is the only reason for which thinking has been 
preserved in the race. 

Recently the pupils in the junior class of a high 



io8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

school were required to write down a list of "forty 
The test applied important events which hap- 
to a histoiy lesson pened in European history." 
They were expected to give the exact date of each 
event, and the names of the men and women con- 
nected therewith. It was not asked that any rela- 
tionship be shown between the different events men- 
tioned. The whole forty might relate to a particular 
period, or might concern any one man even, pro- 
vided the pupils could hunt up forty of his deeds 
which were of sufficient importance to become mat- 
ters of record. The aim of the teacher in assigning 
this task was to compel her pupils to "memorize at 
least forty events covering the period of European 
history which had been studied." 

In executing this task the pupils made constant 
use of their text-books. They would start looking 
through the table of contents ; and when they came 
upon a phrase such as "The Battle of Waterloo", 
they would make a note of the date and event. Then 
they would run on until they came across something 
else that seemed to be an "event," and they would 
jot it down to be memorized. Frequently the pupils 
would ask one another, and any older persons to 
whom they could gain access, whether "The Battle 
of Waterloo" was really an "event", or what it was. 
They said the teacher made it absolutely imperative 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 109 

that they should get only "events". When some of 
these pupils V\^ere asked what there was In history 
besides "events", they were unable to respond. And 
what is more serious, they were not very much in- 
terested to find out what else there could be. What 
they wanted to do was to get the names of forty 
events in order to meet the test which the teacher 
would make at the appointed hour. The present 
writer tried out some of these pupils by asking them 
what difference there was between a cause in history 
and an event; and there was not one reasonably 
satisfactory answer given. The responses indicated 
that these particular pupils had gained no clear 
notion of causes operating in European history. 
They had been impressed mainly with the supreme 
value of unrelated dates, names and events. 

Certain of the pupils being observed with refer- 
ence to their method of performing this task. It was 
Formal exactness noticed that their chief fear was 
rather than ef- that they might not get the exact 
fective thinking ^j^tes. They were sure it would 
not be satisfactory to say that a given event occurred 
in such a period or about such a year — for instance, 
that Alaska was purchased about such a time. The 
precise year must be memorized for the examina- 
tion. But it was evident that the exact year for any 
event would not be permanently remembered. Al- 



no EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

though the class had previously been over these 
events, it is significant to note that not one pupil in 
ten could be sure of any date without hunting it up 
in his text-book or elsewhere. What possible value 
could it be to these pupils to try to remember forty 
dates? Was it not a positive injury to right his- 
torical thinking to require the memorizing of the 
precise year of an event by novices, since this would 
be forgotten, and the event itself would not be 
located in its relation to other events in European 
history? If the pupils had been asked simply to 
learn about when, and especially in connection with 
what related events any event occurred, they would 
have been more likely to have got a feeling for the 
relation of important periods to one another. 

The chief defect in such a lesson as the above, 
which is typical of much that may be seen in the 
schools, is that it fails to exalt what is of prime im- 
portance in the study of the subject in hand. If 
the teacher had said, "Bring me an account of five 
events in European history, and show me what led 
to these events, what followed them, and how Euro- 
pean life and history were affected by them," she 
would have drawn the attention of her class to 
knowledge of genuine value, and within the range 
of Interest and capacity of pupils In the junior year 
of the high school. It will not be doubted by any 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK in 

one who has reflected upon it that the service of 
history in education is dependent upon the extent to 
which the abihty is thereby developed in pupils to 
trace causes and effects in human society. The 
memorizing of isolated historical events can hardly 
be of value in any individual's life; and what is of 
chief consequence, when much work of this sort is 
required of him, it tends to establish a habit of 
mind which makes him content with the mere ac- 
quisition of disjointed facts, which is hostile to the 
development of thinking ability. 

While we are considering the teaching of history, 
attention may be called to the character of the ideas 
Historical ideas presented, as well as to the method 
that relate to of presenting them. We wish our 
every-day life pupils to gain from their work in 
history some help in thinking straight in respect to 
matters of contemporary interest in society. But 
can this be accomplished when instruction relates 
mainly to war, and but very little to peace? The 
writer has just come from a conversation with a 
high-school sophomore regarding his study of his- 
tory. It was an informal talk about the matters that 
have interested the boy in the history he has studied 
in the elementary school, and during his first year in 
the high school. In this conference the fact that im- 
pressed the writer most deeply was the boy's strik- 



112 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

ing ignorance of the men who had contributed to the 
literary, esthetic, commercial, educational, and re- 
ligious development of the race, and particularly of 
our own country. He is rated as a good student, 
in both the elementary and the high school, and he 
probably has gained as much from his history as 
any of those who have been taught with him; and 
yet here in the sophomore year of the high school, 
history is to him principally a record of wars. He 
knows the names of many of the military heroes of 
ancient and modern times, and he can talk intelli- 
gently about the outcome of some of the world's 
great battles; but in school his attention has been 
called in only the most casual way to the really vital 
movements in the history of mankind. He knows 
something about Napoleon, but practically nothing 
about Pasteur. He can describe the principal 
achievements of Wellington; but Darwin, Herbert 
Spencer, and Gladstone are mere words to him. This 
boy apparently knows little if anything about the 
life of the Greek and the Roman people, except such 
of it as was displayed in their military adventures. 
He has read somewhere of Raphael and Angelo, but 
he has no distinct idea what they have contributed to 
the development of the race. He can not recall that 
he has ever heard of Pestalozzi, Frobel, or Horace 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 113 

Mann ; but he is well up on Washington, Stonewall 
Jackson, and General Grant. 

How much longer must we continue to teach 
history as an account principally of war and military 
heroes? Is it impossible to interest students of any 
age in heroes of peace as well as in heroes of war? 
Can it be that it is more important for a boy tO' know 
who has fought the battles of a nation than who has 
contributed to its peaceful development? What 
would be the loss to the average elementary and high- 
school student if the tale of war in history should 
be reduced to one-tenth of the importance which it 
now occupies in some places, and other interests 
should receive attention in its stead? If we could 
train up a generation of boys and girls who knew 
less about the wars of the world, but much more 
than they now do about the struggles of man to 
overcome disease, to subdue the earth through 
science, to increase the comfort and safety of life, 
to make education universal — if we could do this, 
would not our civilization be more stable than it now 
is ? And would not individuals be more capable than 
most persons now are of adjusting themselves to a 
peaceful order in the world, and thinking clearly in 
respect to the problems which now confront us ? 

This leads on to the question of teaching pupils 



114 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

to think straight in respect to the problems of mod- 
Lack of effective ern social life. Not long since, the 
thinking^ 121 civil writer was a guest in a class-room 
government ^^gre first-year high-school stu- 

dents were studying civil government. They had 
memorized verbatim the constitution of the United 
States ; and at this particular time they were learn- 
ing the composition of the national congress and its 
functions. The teacher stated that it was the plan 
to have classes learn how the state legislature was 
organized, how its members were chosen, and what 
part the legislature played in government. Finally, 
they were to learn the organization of city and town 
government, following the plan of the study of 
national and state government. The work was 
almost wholly a memory exercise on the part 
of the pupils. In a formal, remote way they 
analyzed the thing they called government, much 
as they would dissect a plant or an animal in the 
biological laboratory. They classified the parts of 
the governmental organism and described the func- 
tion of each, but they were not led to appreciate the 
living whole as it manifests itself in life, and as they 
are related to it. One sometimes sees a student 
dissecting a plant who has little knowledge of the 
conditions under which the plant lives, its provisions 
for maintaining life, its struggle for existence, and 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 115 

the relations which exist between the plant and the 
animal life about it. The plant is to such a student 
a rather lifeless thing, without relations, and largely 
without function. He simply follows a formal rule 
in separating it into parts, which he describes 
mechanically according to his formula. If he should 
see the plant in nature he might be unable to identify 
it. It is practically certain he could not give its 
life-history, or tell any significant fact about its con- 
test for survival, and how it serves or injures man 
or other creatures. 

Now, the students in this particular class were 
studying civil government in some such remote and 
ineffective way as plants are often studied in labora- 
tories. They learned the names of offices and their 
incumbents at the time then pending, and they de- 
scribed their duties according to the formal method 
of the text-book. But just what part the congress- 
man from their district played in determining the 
welfare of people in their community, as a society 
and as individuals, they could not tell. The pupils 
will leave that class without any adequate idea of 
government as a living, vital, dynamic thing. So 
far as their study is concerned, they will be quite 
unable to think clearly concerning the problems of 
contemporary interest in government; and it is rea- 
sonable to say that very little has been done for them 



ii6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

which will help them to be better citizens, when it 
comes to deciding any complex question of social 
action. 

Here is the way a group of boys about eleven 
years of age were taught to think effectively in re- 
Developing clear ^pect to problems in civics. The 
thinking by a lessons started with observations 
different method of a voting booth. The boys were 
of teaching interested in watching the men 

come to the booth, get their tickets, retire into a 
private room, emerge therefrom in due course, have 
their names called out, and their tickets received by 
the inspectors. The question arose why the men 
had to go into a private room, and this gave oppor- 
tunity for a twenty-minute discussion on the ques- 
tion of corruption in voting, and how people have 
had to devise some way to prevent bribing voters, 
or coercing them into voting a certain way. The 
Australian method of voting was considered ; and t?ie 
chances of any one stuffing the ballot-box aroused 
unusual interest. The boys were led to see why it 
was necessary for every man to have his name on 
the voting list, and why it should be called out when 
he deposited his ticket. 

The following day the tickets left over from the 
previous day were distributed among the boys, and 
a discussion was held upon the different offices 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 117 

which had to be filled. It was a town election ; and 
the officers elected were a mayor, several aldermen, 
several justices of the peace, a clerk, and a treasurer. 
The boys were greatly interested in determining 
why each of these officers was needed in the town. 
Why could not one man attend to all the business? 
What would be the result if there were no clerk or 
treasurer or justice of the peace in the town? How 
is each resident of the town benefited by contribut- 
ing to the support of these different officers? What 
would happen if the offices were all abolished? Who 
is the most important officer in the corporation? 

For the next day's lesson the boys were asked to 
mention one or more respects in which their own 
comfort or safety in their homes or on the streets 
was dependent upon faithfulness on the part of the 
various officers of the town. Every boy came to the 
class with several suggestions of ways in which all 
citizens were helped through the activities of these 
officers. Most of the boys agreed that without! 
water, for instance, furnished by the town and under 
the charge of a supervisor of waterworks, life 
would be very different from what it now is in most 
places. The same is true in respect to light for the 
streets, homes, and stores, and so on. 

Next, the boys were led to inquire how these vari- 
ous officers were supported, who determined what 



ii8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Thinking straight work should be done, how the 
on the subject of various officers received their 
taxation ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^_ ^j^.^ j^^ ^^^j^^ 

to the subject of taxation — usually a most difficult 
topic for children. But when it is approached from 
this standpoint, the necessity and the method of 
raising funds to defray public expense can be made 
reasonably intelligible even to pupils eleven years of 
age. In this manner, basing everything that was 
discussed in the class upon actual situations which 
children could observe, the government of the town 
was worked out in detail. At every point questions 
were raised respecting the danger of officers neg- 
lecting their duty; the desires of some men to get 
more than belonged to them ; the necessity for every 
one to take a hand in seeing that money was not 
wasted in doing all these things that must be done in 
every community in order to protect the people and 
provide for their comfort. All manner of sugges- 
tions came up in the class regarding ways in which 
money could be wasted and officers could be unfaith- 
ful; and as a matter of fact every suggestion made 
related to forms of corruption which are apt to 
appear at one time or another in the development of 
any community. 

After the organization and government of the 
city had been gone over in a very concrete way, the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 119 

Tracing govern- question of the relations which 
mental relations people had to the government of 
° ^ the county came up. These pupils 
had hardly any notion of what the county is, and 
why there needed to be this unit in government. 
However, they were led to see that it would be con- 
venient and more effective to have the people living 
in a section twenty miles square, say, govern them- 
selves in certain respects than to have the govern- 
ment come from some central place in the state or 
the nation. It was shown that in supervising 
country schools, for instance, it would be best to 
have a section called a county, which could be looked 
after by one man. The teachers in this section could 
gather together at one place for instruction, and so 
on. It seemed to be simply a matter of convenience 
to have the state divided into smaller sections. 

Then the pupils were led to see that there had to 
be some general control over the various counties, 
and we call this a state government. The boys knew 
that there was one man from the town who had been 
sent by the people to the capitol of the state, and 
they were instructed to find out why he was sent 
there, and what his duties were. They knew there 
was a governor, and the question arose — What 
duties has he to perform that are not attended to by 
the officers in the town or in the county ? Could this 



I20 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

particular town get along without having any gov- 
ernmental relations with other towns? Is it neces- 
sary that there should be some one over the mayors 
and other officers in all towns? If so, in respect to 
what matters would he have authority? It was not 
possible to make every point perfectly clear to these 
pupils ; but all that was essential was appreciated by 
them. 

It became perfectly apparent to them that any one 
town or county is so closely related in many of its 
interests to other towns and counties that its welfare 
will be best promoted if it lives under certain general 
rules which should apply to them all. These general 
rules must be determined by people chosen from the 
various communities, and they must be enforced by 
some man who will take the part of the mayor in the 
town. Further, these rules must be interpreted by 
some persons who will take the part of the justices 
of the peace and the city judge. There was no ver- 
bal memorizing in this method of study. The pupils 
first appreciated the necessity for organization and 
government, and this made the learning of the names 
of officers seem simple and natural. 

Finally, the question was raised whether any 
one state could get along best without regard to 
other states. Or do all states have some such rela-^ 
tions to one another as towns and counties do, which 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 121 

require that they should live under certain common 
rules that should apply to them all ? Once the idea 
of state government was made clear to the pupils, 
it was easy enough for them to get the idea of the 
necessity of a national government. They had no 
difficulty in working out the main requirements in 
respect to national government, and the functions 
of the various officers. 

It is not too much to say that there was not a 
barren or dull lesson in this series. And the pupils 
have acquired an insight into the nature of govern- 
ment, both local and general, which, if it can be 
extended as they go through the schools, will be 
pretty certain to make them intelligent and dynamic 
when they come to play the role of citizens. The 
principal characteristic of this teaching was that it 
made the entire business perfectly reasonable and 
natural. There were constantly kept before pupils 
these queries : What rules are necessary in order that 
people should live together in the best way? Who 
should make these rules ? How should the people be 
selected to make them? What should be done to 
persons who will not observe them? What is nec- 
esary in order that it may be found out whether a 
person has broken a rule or not ? And so on. This 
sort of teaching will not only lead pupils to think 
straight in regard to government, but it is likely to 



122 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

arouse in them a keen interest in the matter, and a 
disposition to take a hand in it when they shall be 
given an opportunity so to do. 

Let us now pursue our principle of clear thinking 
into the field of mathematics. 

The writer was recently asked by a teacher in the 
fifth grade to suggest an explanation of the constant 
Clear thinking failing of one of her pupils in his 
in arithmetic arithmetic work. She said he was a 
bright boy in most subjects ; and he was always in 
earnest, and eager to get a high standing in his 
studies. He appeared to be in good health, and was 
unusually vigorous in his play out-of-doors, so that 
one would expect him to excel in "reasoning" 
branches, as the teacher said. In the class in nature 
study he was easily the brightest pupil. He was alert 
in observing the essential points in whatever was 
taken up for study ; and he was ready and accurate 
in discovering relations between things, and drawing 
really sound inferences, from what could be seen. 
In short, he was a thoroughly normal pupil, en- 
dowed with good physical and mental vigor, and his 
failure in arithmetic appeared to be a mystery. 

It should be stated that he was not particularly 
ready and accurate in the fundamental operations. 
He was not so quick as some others in his handling 
of figures, even in the simplest processes. In going 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 123 

over his work in school and outside, it was found 
that he had probably not had enough drill in the 
rapid use of numbers. He was not so much inter- 
ested in that kind of thing as he was in work which 
was more concrete, and which required the use of 
his hands. True to child nature, he moved along the 
lines of least resistance; so he went on from grade 
to grade without becoming facile in handling figures 
in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. 
As a result, when he reached the fifth grade and 
had to work rapidly in order to solve the problems 
which were assigned him every day, he made fre- 
quent errors, even in the fundamental operations; 
with the outcome that he began to feel that he could 
not avoid making errors. It was the regular thing 
for him to receive not more than fifty per cent, in his 
arithmetical work. Naturally he lost his courage in 
attacking his arithmetic lessons. He began tO' feel 
that he should fail anyway ; and what was the use of 
trying? When a pupil reaches this stage in any sub- 
ject, the chances are he will not progress rapidly. 

But the principal source of his difficulty in the 
fifth grade was that he had not acquired the habit of 
Mere verbal reading his problems so as thoroughly 
reading of to comprehend what the conditions 
problems were. He would get a general and 

hazy impression of the conditions in a problem; and 



124 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

then when he came to solve it, the chances were that 
he would not see the relations in the right way, and 
so his work would be erroneous. When I became 
interested in him, I asked him at the outset to read 
and interpret orally every problem which had been 
assigned him by his teacher. Out of six problems to 
be solved the first day I worked with him, he under- 
stood only one correctly. He had not learned to 
read problems with sufficient attention to each fac- 
tor. In an arithmetical problem every word is sig- 
nificant, while in the ordinary reading lesson it is 
quite different. This boy could get impressions from 
his reading lessons readily and with sufficient ac- 
curacy to meet all requirements; but in arithmetic 
this may not be enough. 

The first work which was required of him was to 
read one problem at a time, and to explain in his 
own words what the relations in the problem were, 
and to supplement his interpretation by diagrams 
whenever possible, which could be easily done in all 
problems requiring the determination of lengths, 
areas, volumes, etc. In problems involving opera- 
tions in weights, measures, money, etc., the boy was 
asked to illustrate actual relations by using the 
proper units. In this way he constructed each prob- 
lem concretely. After a month's work of this kind, 
there were very few problems encountered, the con- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 125 

ditions of which the boy could not illustrate con- 
cretely in some way. In the last resort he could by 
gesture indicate the relations described in his prob- 
lems. 

After a few weeks' work of this sort, the boy's 
improvement in his arithmetic was occasion for re- 
mark on the part of his teacher and his classmates. 
He is not yet always accurate in his fundamental 
operations ; but he has made the beginning of a habit 
of finding out definitely what a problem means be- 
fore he attempts to solve it. He can now be set 
six problems a day to solve, and he will write out in 
his own words the relations described in each prob- 
lem. It may be remarked in passing that he has 
gained much from this experience besides efficient 
thinking in his arithmetic. It has been a good train- 
ing for him in reading, for he was required to read 
with such care and attention in order to grasp the 
significance of every phrase and even every word 
that it has given him ability in accurate interpreta- 
tion that he did not have before. 

Of course, reading of this sort could be carried 
too far — so far that it would arrest the child's free- 
dom in his reading in non-mathematical subjects. 
But every individual in his daily life needs, at least 
occasionally, to read selections where the minutest 
detail must be appreciated with mathematical exact- 



126 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

ness. How can this ability be gained more effect- 
ively than in the accurate reading of arithmetical 
problems? The writer feels that a teacher should 
require children from the third grade on to read and 
interpret problems every day, the aim being to have 
them acquire a habit of determining precisely what 
is stated in any given problem. 

Let us look at the results of mere verbal teach- 
ing in other phases of arithmetical work. I have 
Verbal study ^^^^ observing in a certain school- 

of weights and room in which the teacher has 
measures as an been endeavoring to teach weights 
e55:aniple ^^^^ measures to children who have 

had experience outside with few if any of the 
units which they have been studying in the school. 
And how are they studying these units? The 
teacher had the pupils learn by heart the table of 
linear measure, as an instance. So far as one could 
tell, these children had not handled a foot ruler. 
They certainly had only a dim idea of what a yard 
measure was ; and a rod and a mile might mean the 
same thing to them. But they had said over and 
over again that ''twelve inches make a foot", "three 
feet make a yard", ''five and a half yards make a 
rod", and "three hundred twenty rods make a mile". 
The teacher frequently gave problems like these for 
drill: "How many inches in one-third of a foot?" 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 127 

"In three yards ?" and so on. "How many yards in 
two rods?" etc. In this work the effort of the chil- 
dren was to remember their tables, and to perform 
correctly the multiplication processes given by the 
teacher. They were not actually imaging any of 
the situations which the teacher presented. She ap- 
parently never once thought of asking them to indi- 
cate the length of a yard, either on the board, or by 
extending their hands, or in any other way. It did 
not occur to her as necessary that she should have 
the children draw a line an inch long, a foot long, 
and so on. Her principal aim was to have her pupils 
remember verbal statements they had learned, and 
apply these in the special, formal situations which 
she presented. But these situations really did not in- 
volve any knowledge of actual measurement, only 
a knowledge of words. 

The teaching of weights or measures of any sort 
which does not require pupils to deal with the 
actual units, so that when they solve a problem they 
do not think of the result in terms of actual distance, 
or area, or weight, or size of the measure employed, 
is defective. Of course, if the pupil has had the 
actual experience of using units of measure, and 
constructing higher out of lower units, then he 
should have experience in solving rapidly problems 
in which he simply performs the process involved 



128 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

without attempting to visualize each factor and the 
resuks. But care must be taken in the early years 
to make his arithmetical thinking definite and con- 
crete, so that he can translate correctly, when need 
be, the results reached in the solution of his prob- 
lems. As an aid in this work, he should be required 
to make diagrams to illustrate all problems involving 
weights and measures, unless such diagrams should 
be too complex, which would rarely be the case. In 
estimating areas, for instance, the pupil should at the 
outset always make his diagram according to scale. 
In finding cubical contents this can be done. Chil- 
dren in the third and fourth grades can easily make 
drawings illustrating the ratio and size of the dif- 
ferent units in dry and liquid measure. When a 
pupil is required to do this work he gains a compre- 
hension of the meaning of his processes which he 
can never do if he simply learns tables, and then 
tries to apply them to situations in which he does 
not have actually to construct anything. 

No teacher of arithmetic could fail to be inter- 
ested in reviewing the changes which have been 
Clear thinking rnade in text-books on this sub- 

and useful ject during the past twenty-five 

problems in years. Perhaps the most signifi- 

arithmetic ^.^j^^ change which has occurred 

relates to the character of the problems which pupils 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 129 

have been and are now asked to solve. In the olden- 
time text-book, problems were all of a certain general 
type form. Pick up a text-book which was in use 
twenty-five years ago, and you will not find many 
problems concerning the actual situations in which a 
pupil would be placed outside of school. The exer- 
cises were much the same in all the text-books of 
that time — formal, remote problems in buying and 
selling, for instance. The articles bought and sold, 
the price of the same, and the conditions under 
which the transactions were made were more or 
less exceptional or unreal. They were not such as 
pupils would actually have to deal with if they 
should engage in buying and selling most of the 
articles used in daily life. Again, there vv^ere prob- 
lems involving the application of various tables of 
measurement, of weight, of money, and the special 
tables relating to masonry, etc. ; but these problems 
too, as one reads them to-day, seem remote from 
real life. A pupil might be able to solve the ma- 
sonry problems given in his book, but be quite help- 
less when he was presented with an actual masonry 
problem in the building of his father's house. 

The writer has been able to see this principle illus- 
trated in some work done by pupils to-day in schools 
where the old style text-books are in use, or where 
teachers set problems of a form.al pattern. In one 



I30 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

such school, typical of many others in a state in 
the Middle West, the teacher sets most of the prob- 
lems to be solved, and not ten per cent, of all those 
she gives her pupils have any connection with their 
needs outside of school. She is teaching in a pros- 
perous farming community, and she could utilize 
a great many problems relating to agriculture, to 
the mechanics of the farm, to the cost of the pro- 
duction of crops, their harvesting, storage, trans- 
portation, etc. ; but it has not occurred to her that 
such problems could be or ought to be used in the 
arithmetic class. In this community the pupils 
study percentage, taxes, and the like ; but the school 
trustee has to employ an accountant to make out 
the tax roll for this district. Farmers whose sons 
solve type problems in cubic measure build their 
granaries and their cisterns by guesswork. The 
arithmetic instruction in the school does not reach 
out vitally into the practical work of the farm. 

In a teachers' meeting held recently in the county 
in which the woman referred to teaches, the fol- 
Making proWems lowing question was proposed : 
relate to the pu- "Should the problems in arith- 
pil's actual needs metic be drawn from the pupil's 
and experience ^^^ily life, or should they be nu- 
merical problems given them for the purpose of 
drilling on the fundamental operations in the ap- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 131 

plication of tables?" It was significant that most 
of the teachers who attended that meeting had not 
thought of the possibility or the desirability of draw- 
ing problems from the pupils' actual experiences out- 
side of the school. While theoretically they believed 
that arithmetic should be taught for the purpose of 
helping the child in his daily needs, still practically 
they taught it as though it were for the pur- 
pose of drilling him in formal processes, without 
employing these in useful ways in actual life. Of 
course, pupils who were so trained could not 
fail to gain something which would be of benefit 
to them in their practical affairs; but it is equally 
certain that they could get the benefit of drill, and 
at the same time learn to solve problems which 
would greatly illumine the situations in which they 
were placed outside of school. 

The writer knows of some authors who are at 
work upon arithmetic text-books especially de- 
signed for country schools. These authors are 
drawing all their problems from the operations on 
the farm, and from interests that are related there- 
to. For instance, some of the problems relate to 
the average yield per acre of wheat and other grains 
throughout the country. This affords an oppor- 
tunity for excellent drill in long division. At the 
same time it gives the pupil information which is 



132 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

of interest to him, and which he can not get effect- 
ively in any other way. If he should sit down 
and learn by heart a table giving the yield per acre 
of wheat in the different states of the country, it 
would be a distasteful task for him; but when he 
works it out arithmetically the results become fixed 
in his mind, and the information he gets helps to 
make the process tolerable. 

The writer has had an interesting experience illus- 
trating the point involved here. A pupil in the 
A concrete instance seventh grade of a city school 
illustrating the had for his lesson one day to 

vital teaching determine the yield per acre of 

of arithmetic wheat in the different states of 

the country. The total acreage and the total yield 
in each state were given. At the outset he was 
angry at such a task. He thought it was simply a 
problem in long division, which he had already 
learned to dislike, because up to this particular day 
his problems had all been of the numerical kind. 
But on this occasion the boy's father went through 
the process with him; and as they worked they 
talked about the results, and commented upon the 
variation in productivity in the different states. 
This led to a consideration of why one state pro- 
duces so much more than another state. The boy 
worked at this task for about forty minutes, which 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 133 

was twice as long as he usually applied himself, 
and he solved all the problems. When he got 
through he was genuinely interested in his results, 
and the father asked that other problems of like char- 
acter be worked out on succeedings evenings, which 
was done, and with uniform pleasure to the boy. 

Now, note that he was profiting in at least two 
ways. He was receiving valuable drill in one of the 
fundamental processes in arithmetic, and he was ac- 
quiring information which was of interest and of 
distinct profit to him. The writer thinks this kind 
of knowledge can be better given in arithmetic 
than in geography, though, of course, it is in one 
sense geographical information. This is perhaps 
a fit place to remark that many of the most useful 
problems in arithmetic can be drawn from geog- 
raphy, particularly commercial geography. 

For pupils who live in the city, there are all 
sorts of situations which permit of arithmetical 
Useful problems treatment, and in which the pupil 
for the city pupil will be genuinely interested. Take 
the matter of laying out streets, the selling of lots, 
the cost of paving, the total length of water-mains 
in a city, having given the average length of streets 
and the amount on any one street, the cost of city 
government, the rate of taxation for various pur- 
poses, and so on ad libitum. A teacher could easily 



134 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

accumulate data regarding all these matters in his 
own city, and have them for his pupils year after 
year. The gathering of the problems at the outset 
would involve some labor, but once collected they 
would be of service without modification for a con- 
siderable period. The point is that what is needed 
in arithmetic is to apply it to the practical situa- 
tions presented in the pupil's daily life. Most of the 
necessary drill can be secured through the solution 
of such problems. 

It is not intended to say that problems should all 
be of this character; but most of them should be. It 
is cause for rejoicing that the new text-books in 
arithmetic are eliminating the formal, remote prob- 
lems, and bringing the study right to the door of the 
pupil, and making it interpret and illumine his en- 
vironment. This kind of arithmetic will make a pu- 
pil more appreciative of what is going on around 
him than he would be without it. He can be led to 
think of the amount of rainfall in his region in pre- 
cise terms, the amount of energy generated by a 
ton of coal, the average growth of plants per day, 
the relative amount of heat energy expended by the 
sun at different seasons, and so on at any length. 
If arithmetic could be generally treated in this way, 
it would become of far greater interest and greater 
dignity than it has been in the past, and than it now 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 135 

is in many communities where the traditional atti- 
tude toward it is maintained. 

We may look now for a moment at inaccurate 
thinking in this field. Many of the errors in arith- 
The cure for in- metic made by pupils after the 
accurate think- fourth grade are due to their in- 
ing in this field ability correctly to interpret the re- 
lations expressed in problems. When a teacher finds 
pupils inaccurate in this way it will do no good for 
her to say, "Now, be more careful next time," or, 
"If you do not pay closer attention, I will keep you 
after school", or, "I will put you back in a lower 
grade", and the like. Pupils who have not formed 
habits of accuracy can not correct their inaccuracy 
by simply saying to themselves, "Now, I must not 
make any errors." It is an easy thing for us to as- 
sume that a pupil can on his own initiative eliminate 
errors from his work, if he only wills so to do ; but 
experience should teach us that no good comes from 
threatening or exhorting pupils who have developed 
inaccurate methods of work. The efficient teacher 
will analyze the situation before her, seeking to dis- 
cover the cause of a pupil's errors ; and then she will 
set about developing new habits. For after all, in- 
accuracy is a habit of mind which is the result of a 
relatively long process of doing a thing in a certain 
way. This habit can not be broken up in an instant ; 



136 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

it can be corrected only by slowly building up a dif- 
ferent sort of habit, which will in time replace the 
undesirable one. 

This last point will bear elaboration. Most teach- 
ers find that their chief difficulty in the teaching of 
The evil of in- arithmetic to young children is to get 
accuracy in Jhem to be accurate in their work on 
school work tj^ejj- ^^^ initiative. Indeed, in some 
schools the only trouble teachers encounter is in re- 
spect to the errors which even the brightest children 
make. Any observing teacher knows that young pu- 
pils do not readily detect their own errors ; and this 
is, of course, true of them in other work than in 
arithmetic. When the novice executes anything, 
whether it be a process in arithmetic, or spelling a 
word, or writing a sentence, he is practically unable 
to go back over the detailed steps, and detect the 
one that is wrong. It is a trait of the child mind to 
view things as wholes ; and once executed they must 
be right. This is one reason why many teachers ac- 
complish so little when they give the following di- 
rection to their pupils : "Now look over your work, 
and see that it is correct." It is difficult enough for 
even an adult to detect errors in what he has done. 
The very fact that he has solved a problem in a cer- 
tain way, or constructed a paragraph after a given 
pattern, is evidence that he thinks it is correct; and 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 135 

when he goes over it he tends always to see it as 
correct and not as erroneous. If it is difficult for 
the adult to restrain the tendency to see as correct 
what has once been executed, how much more likely 
is this to be characteristic of young pupils. And 
how futile it must be to keep urging them to *'look 
over your work to see that it is right." 

And yet we must, to the fullest extent possible, 
develop in our pupils the ability to review their work 
Self -correction of and detect errors. They can be 
inaccurate work made self-helpful in eliminating 
mistakes from all their work, but especially from 
their arithmetic, by requiring them always to check 
every process and *'prove" every problem. No so- 
lution of a problem should be accepted from a pupil 
until it has been checked. When a pupil goes back 
over his own work and discovers his error, this fur- 
nishes the greatest precaution against his making 
the error again. In this way he learns what his ten- 
dencies are, and he will be on his guard against thern. 

Then in this work of checking, pupils receive valu- 
able drill in performing the fundamental operations, 
and in seeing the relations in a problem in every 
way they can be viewed. To know how to check a 
problem is just as valuable as to know how to solve 
it. Of course, as pupils go on into the fifth or sixth 
grade, there may be no need for checking v/hen they 



138 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

are working upon familiar problems ; but whenever 
they attack new processes, it is always well to re- 
quire them to "prove" their results, and never to 
submit a problem unless they have assured them- 
selves by a checking test that their work is accurate. 



CHAPTER V 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK — CONCLUDED 

We may here glance at the relation which exists 
between clear thinking and a good memory. An 
Clear thinking and earnest teacher was recently ob- 
a good memory served instructing what she said 

was a dull class. The pupils were taking their first 
lessons in fractions, and they were progressing 
very, very slowly. Indeed, after twenty-five min- 
utes of struggle and tension, it was not easy to dis- 
cover that they had learned much, if anything, 
concerning the topic being taught. The teacher felt 
discouraged, and her state of mind was expressed 
in her tone of voice, her features, and even in her 
bodily attitudes. She was irritated over what she 
thought was wilful stupidity. She felt her pupils 
could grasp the simple relations she was trying to 
teach them, if only they would make an effort so to 
do. During the entire period she was chiding them, 
upbraiding them for their lack of application, and 
charging them with carelessness and indifference. It 

139 



I40 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

was a disagreeable hour, alike for the pupils, for the 
teacher, and for the visitor. 

One of the phrases which the teacher used most 
freely in the attempt to quicken the mental processes 
of her pupils was, "I told you that yesterday; why 
can't you remember it to-day?" This phrase is 
heard very frequently in the class-room, and it al- 
ways comes readily from the tongue of almost any 
teacher. When one has told a pupil a fact, it would 
seem that he ought to retain it for a day at least. 
The teacher can easily retain it himself, and the 
pupil could do so, *'if he was only in earnest about 
the matter". But is this sound psychology? Can a 
novice remember any fact as readily as one who is 
already familiar with it? The very question sounds 
absurd; and yet it is an entirely reasonable one, con- 
sidering the attitude of most teachers toward a 
learner who forgets what has been told him. It is 
likely to seem so simple to the instructor that he 
can not easily forgive any pupil who fails to retain 
it when it is presented to him. 

Let us take a concrete instance. A teacher is en- 
deavoring to lead her pupils to discover what is the 
A concrete instance result of multiplying one-fourth 
of obscure teacMng by one-fifth. They sit on the 
recitation bench while she talks about multiplying 
the numerators together for a new numerator, and 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 141 

the denominators for a new denominator. When 
she uses the term "numerator" she does not indicate 
it expHcitly, or have her pupils come to the board 
and indicate it, simply because it is so familiar to 
her that she thinks by calling attention to it once or 
twice in a general way her pupils will grasp it cor- 
rectly. In the same manner, when she uses the term 
"denominator" she does not make it entirely clear 
what "denominator" means. It is so perfectly ob- 
vious to herself that she thinks it is a waste of time, 
and even throwing a sop to stupidity, to keep dwell- 
ing on it. The inevitable result is that as she talks 
to her pupils there is confusion in the minds of most 
of them; and when the lesson is over, no clear, defi- 
nite impression has been established. How then can 
they remember what was developed when the orig- 
inal perception was so obscure ? 

Suppose that instead of merely talking to her 
pupils about this process, she had caused each one 
Attacking the prob- of them to work the whole 
lem in another way thing out for himself, and to 
describe the operation in his own words, based exact- 
ly upon what he had done. Suppose she had taken 
forty splints, we shall say, or similar objects, and had 
asked her pupils what was meant by taking one- 
fourth of one-fifth of them. Before this problem 
could be taken up, the pupils would, of course, have 



142 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

had experience in finding fractional parts of a unity, 
or a group of objects. They could now find one- 
fifth of these forty splints, and then they could easily 
find one-fourth of this one-fifth. Then readily they 
could determine what part of forty was the group 
of two splints, which was gained by taking one- 
fourth of one-fifth of forty. Next, they could look 
at the original statement, and note how one-twenti- 
eth could be obtained by simply performing the 
required operations on the figures themselves. 

In order to fix the principle the teacher could give 
problems like these: Find two- fourths of one-fifth 
of forty; three-fourths of one-fifth of forty; three- 
fourths of two-fifths of forty ; and so on through a 
large number of processes. The outcome of this 
work would be that, through having actually carried 
a statement out into its concrete results, the pupils 
would become so impressed with it on account of 
handling objects in executing the relations stated in 
the problems, that they would be likely to remember 
their experience. But when they have no experience, 
except working with mere figures, nothing can in- 
duce them to remember a process except incessant 
repetition. 

Perhaps a better way to proceed than to use 
splints would be to have each pupil draw a circle, 
and then perform upon it the operations which his 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 143 

problem requires ; and the teacher can propose many 
problems involving the same principle, which will 
tend to fix it securely. These operations can be per- 
formed on a line, or better still on a square or ob- 
long, where the pupil can see, and especially where 
he can feel through actual execution, what it means 
to take a part of a part, or, as we teach it, to mul- 
tiply a fraction by a fraction. Even with this sort 
of experience, of course, he may go astray in the 
first stages of his work, and I, as his teacher, may 
feel that he is stupid, because the thing seems so fa- 
miliar to me. But we must not forget that a novice 
is always likely tO' make mistakes in dealing with any 
situation which is new to him. The reason for this 
is that just exactly the sequence of things necessary 
to think through any problem accurately has not 
become established in his mind as a result of con- 
stant repetition. Such a sequence has become estab- 
lished in the expert's mind, because he has gone 
through it so frequently, and he has blazed a trail, 
as it were, which he can follow without difficulty 
whenever he starts upon It. But when one is new in 
any situation, he can not recognize a trail, and he is 
apt to wander here and there without knowing pre- 
cisely what Is the right direction. The only possible 
way by which he can discover this right direction 
is to go over the route frequently with a good guide, 



144 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

who will make him take account of every possible 
circumstance and condition, and work his own way 
as far as possible, and then he will be likely to ap- 
preciate the circumstances and conditions when he 
comes that way again. In other words, he will the 
better remember what has been taught him. 

Every one will doubtless agree that it is of vital 
importance that a pupil should acquire the habit of 
An illustration thinking clearly, and as far as pos- 
from geography sj^ie profoundly, regarding the 
world of people and objects with which he must 
come into relations, either immediately or remotely. 
The study of geography should develop in pupils 
this ability to think effectively in respect to- certain 
aspects of the world about them. To illustrate preva- 
lent methods of presenting this subject in the 
schools, we may glance at the plan pursued in a 
series of lessons recently observed in a fifth-grade 
class. On the first day the lesson related to the ele- 
vation of the land masses out of the water, and the 
action of various agents, atmospheric and otherwise, 
upon rock formations, leading to the disintegration 
of the surface of the rocks. This brought up a dis- 
cussion of erosion, and the making and movement 
of detritus. The children in the class averaged about 
nine years of age. They had had but little previous 
work in geography. All they had gained was ac- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 145 

quired from an elementary text-book, which they 
had learned memoriter. They were now studying 
the advanced geography, which treated the subject 
in a logical, technical way, using terms which many 
adults even could not readily pronounce, to say 
nothing about understanding them. The writer, 
after listening to this recitation, asked several in- 
telligent grown people what detritus was, and they 
all threw up their hands in utter helplessness. There 
were in this lesson a number of such expressions as 
atmospheric agents and the like, which the majority 
of the children could not pronounce, even after some 
instructions by the teacher. 

The pupils had been required to "study" the les- 
son at their seats. When they came to the recita- 
tion, it was evident that the majority of them had 
not assimilated so much as one clear idea from their 
struggle with the text. The whole thing, content as 
well as terminology, was quite beyond them, 
largely, though not wholly, on account of the tech- 
nical character of the terms used, and the general 
abstract treatment of the subject. The man who 
had prepared the geography stated his facts and 
principles in the briefest way he could, viewing them 
through his adult experience. His statements were, 
of course, intelligible to himself, and he naively in- 
ferred that a child in the fifth grade ought to under- 



146 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

stand a thing that was so simple and clear to him- 
self, though he had been for at least forty years 
dealing at first hand with the data upon which his 
propositions were based. The statements presented 
were all condensed generalizations of a large body 
of observations and concrete materials. The teacher 
of this fifth-grade class commended the text because 
of its brevity. She thought it could be easily memo- 
rized by pupils, and so learned by them for later use, 
even if much of it was over their heads now. 

The lessons for the rest of the week were much 
like the first one on Monday morning. They dealt 
with the building of continents, the conformation of 
the surface of continents, the establishment of drain- 
age systems on the surface of the earth, etc., etc. In 
every case the author of the text stated his princi- 
ples without leading pupils to discover anything as 
a result of their own observations, and to draw in- 
ferences from the facts given. There was very little 
if anything really concrete in the work throughout 
the week. The pupils' experiments in the world out- 
side of school were not utilized to any extent. There 
was no modeling of geographic features in this 
school, nor even questions on the part of the teacher 
of the text leading children to work out by their own 
efforts some of the principles which were being 
learned. To illustrate this latter defect : when the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 147 

conception of a continental divide was being gained, 
the teacher simply tried to get the pupils to recite 
the statements in the text. There was no reference, 
even remotely, to the physiographic features in the 
neighborhood, which might have introduced the idea 
of a watershed and a divide. There was no globe 
in the school ; and while there was a map in the text- 
book, it was not evident that it had been intelli- 
gently consulted in working out this lesson. It is 
doubtful if it would have been of assistance anyway. 
During the preceding week the pupils had had 
lessons upon mathematical geography. They had 
The method in mathe- learned statements regarding 
matical geography the revolution of the earth 

on its axis and in its orbit, the inclination of the 
earth, meridians of longitude, parallels of latitude, 
the zones, etc. Three days after the class had fin- 
ished these lessons, some of the pupils were tested 
on their knowledge of latitude and longitude. Every 
pupil manifested a certain amount of confusion as 
to whether meridians of longitude extended from 
pole to pole, or girdled the earth parallel to the 
equator. When asked why it was desirable to learn 
longitude and latitude, they were quite bewildered. 
The question was put to them, "What use do people 
anywhere in the world make of longitude and lati- 
tude?" and not a child could tell clearly. Looking 



148 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

into the faces of those children as they were being 
tested, one could see that their only reaction upon 
the question was by way of attempt to remember 
the statements that they had learned in the book. 
The question was again put to them, "Is there lati- 
tude and longitude in this school yard?" and they 
were confused. They had apparently never thought 
of meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude 
as existing anywhere except on the map in their 
text-book. 

It was represented to the visitor that the class had 
discovered that the seasons were caused by the 
movements of the earth in its orbit. The questions 
above referred to were asked the pupils on the twen- 
tieth day of October. They had observed that the 
days were growing shorter, though it happened to 
be warm at this time; yet they realized from out- 
door experience that the year was dying, and that 
winter would soon be upon us. They were asked to 
say why the days were becoming shorter, and they 
could not explain the fact in any way other than to 
say that the "sun is going south." One might, off- 
hand, take such a statement as an indication that the 
pupils understood what they were talking about; 
but when the matter was followed up, it became per- 
fectly apparent that the children had not gained the 
true conception of why there is a change in the sea- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 149 

sons. It is doubtful whether pupils of this age can 
gain such a conception anyway, or ought to be re- 
quired to attempt it ; but it is reasonably certain that 
the methods employed in this class could not develop 
any adequate idea of the phenomenon in question. 
The lessons were mostly words devoid of meaning- 
ful content. 

It is of such importance to teach geography so 
that pupils may get a real and vital knowledge of the 
TeacMng facts earth as the home of man that we 
without binding may glance at another series of 
them together in lessons illustrating merely formal 
causal relations j^^^hods frequently seen in the 
school. For a number of months the work in ques- 
tion has comprised mainly learning by name ( i ) the 
capitals of all the states of the Union; (2) the five 
most important cities in each state; (3) the three 
largest rivers flowing through each state; (4) all the 
counties in Wisconsin; (5) the fifteen largest cities 
of the state; and (6) all the cities, towns and vil- 
lages in the particular county in which this school is 
situated. The attitude of the pupils toward this task 
is significant. From beginning to end their aim has 
been principally to acquire mere names by cease- 
less repetition, in the hope of fixing them in a vocal 
series, so that, for example, when the word Massa- 
chusetts would be mentioned it would automatically 



I50 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

call up other words, as Boston, Lowell, Lawrence, 
Springfield, Worcester, and the names of three 
rivers. The pupils as a whole do not have any ade- 
quate conception of why the particular five cities 
mentioned have become the leading ones in any 
state, or why the rivers take the special course they 
do through the state. 

The teacher, in defending her method, maintains 
that even if her pupils do not at present know any- 
thing vital concerning the cities and rivers, the 
names of which they are memorizing, they will 
sometime hear facts regarding them, and it will 
then prove of advantage to the children to have fixed 
the names firmly in memory. This seems very 
unsound doctrine. It is formalism at best. It makes 
teaching in this special subject a dull and wasteful 
business. If before learning the name of any city 
except the one in which they live, pupils had been 
made familiar with the general climatic and physical 
conditions of the state being studied, the fertility of 
its soil in different regions, the natural drainage 
courses, and the occupations of the people in vari- 
ous sections determined by the physical conditions; 
and if in the light of these facts they had been 
led to discover about where cities would be likely to 
develop, then the names learned would have acquired 
gorne meaning for them. Each name of a city or 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 151 

river would have become a symbol to which could be 
attached a body of real and vital knowledge, which 
could not fail to interest even children; and this is 
the only sort of knowledge that will be of service to 
them in after life. It is probable that pupils who 
are required to memorize geographical names dis- 
sociated from vital content will develop a vicious 
habit of mind, which will later tend to make them 
satisfied with names for things, instead of the real- 
ities themselves. 

A correspondent, knowing the opinion of the 
writer on the subject under discussion, wishes to 
A plausible but know what valid objections there 
erroneous princi- can be to requiring pupils ten or 
pie of teaching eleven years of age to learn the 
largest cities in each of the states of the Union, and 
the principal countries throughout the world. He 
says : "Pupils will need some time to know the names 
of these cities and countries; and why should they 
not learn them while they have a memory for such 
things? If they wait until they are seventeen or 
eighteen years of age, it will be very difficult for 
them then to learn these details." 

This position appears reasonable from one stand- 
point; but there is a fundamental error implied in 
it. It is of doubtful value to any person to have 
memorized the names of cities, if he has not previ- 



152 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

ously learned some facts about them which will 
make it worth while to remember them. Moreover, 
it is psychologically difficult and wasteful to memor- 
ize a geographical name dissociated from political 
or other characteristics of a physiographic setting. 
Memory depends primarily upon associating things 
according to temporal, spatial, or natural connec- 
tions. But a name of an unknown city, as far as the 
child is concerned, can hardly be connected with any- 
thing which will serve as a bond in memory. It 
must be memorized by constant repetition, so that it 
will become fixed in a vocal series. This is actually 
what young pupils dO' for the most part when they 
are required to learn the names of a number of 
cities in each state. First, they give the name of the 
state, and then recite the cities in a certain order; 
and they go over this "piece" so often that it gets 
established in vocal habit after much time and labor. 
It seems clear that the proper way to help a pupil 
to remember any given city is first to have him study 
the characteristics of the region 'round about, which 
have led to the establishment of this city. Then he 
should be made familiar with the industries and 
other interests and activities of the city which have 
contributed to its development. It will be of greater 
value to a pupil to learn in this manner ten cities in 
America during the first two or three years of study 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 153 

of geography, than to learn a hundred cities merely 
by name; and the principle applies to the learning of 
cities and countries throughout the world. Study 
of the sort advocated will get pupils into the way of 
thinking cause and effect in geography, which, is of 
primary importance. The chief danger to be avoided 
is reliance upon verbal memory. 

No subject in the curriculum affords a better op- 
portunity for effective teaching than geography. 
Geography a good The facts of this study are con- 
subject for effec- crete and definite, and are well 
tive teaching adapted to the child mind, if they 

be presented in the right order and at the proper 
stage of development. Most of the fundamental 
conceptions of geography can be gained by young 
children if the work be done out-of-doors, or at 
least if constant reference be made to the geograph- 
ical conditions in the environment, and if assistance 
be gained from relief maps and globes, lantern 
views, and the like. But probably in no subject has 
the adult point of view been so persistently followed 
in the treatment of the material as in geography ; in 
consequence of which there is, as there has always 
been, waste in the teaching of the subject. And what 
is to be chiefly regretted in this ineffective teaching, 
there are established mental habits which militate 
against vital work later on in any study. A child 



154 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

who learns geography as a mass of verbal statements 
mainly, the most of which he does not comprehend 
and in which he is not interested, is likely to be in- 
jured in all his mental processes. He is apt to 
acquire a verbal rather than a real and dynamic 
attitude toward his environment ; or in other words, 
his thinking power will not be properly developed. 

It has been the purpose thus far to show that the 
"power of thought" implies the ability to handle 
Teaching pupils to oneself aright in a new situa- 
become self -helpful tion. This requires that one 
should have facility in organizing his past experi- 
ences in respect to any situation, and in using them 
as a search-light to illumine dark places in the road 
ahead. A thinker is always a person who can see 
his way through problems which differ in some re- 
spects from those he has previously encountered and 
solved. Such problems would be inscrutable to the 
non-thinking type of individual, because he has got 
his set in the direction of abandoning any new prob- 
lem, or going to others for help in solving it. One 
sees such persons in every walk of life; and they 
are comparatively helpless and ineffective. So it 
seems reasonable to say that the chief aim of the 
teacher in the teaching of all subjects must be to 
make his pupils take the initiative in all they do ; to 
become self-helpful. A child can not be made to 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 155 

think in the concrete situations in actual life, unless 
he acquires the habit of working his own way 
through most of the difficulties presented in the 
class-room. 

The following illustration may indicate the way 
in which many teachers fail to put into effect the 
An illustration of fail- principle of self-activity in 
lire to observe the prin- teaching. In a certain 
ciple of self-activity school a boy in the fourth 

grade was recently asked to spell the word "sirloin". 
He rendered it in this way : "sir lion'\ The teacher 
said, "No, that is not right. You must try once 
more." The boy again spelled it as he did the first 
time. The teacher then said : "Now, you must dis- 
cover your own error. You spell it as though it 
were *sir lion' (pronouncing it), but it is not 
*sir lion' but 'sir loin' (again pronouncing). You 
have learned that when you have the sound of oi 
(pronouncing) you must use the letters 0, i. Now I 
want you to try the word again. You need not spell 
'sir' since you had that right ; simply spell 'loin/ re- 
membering what I have just told you." With this 
aid the boy did spell "loin" correctly. But was he 
self-active, in a true sense, in this experience? Did 
not the teacher do the essential thing in leading him 
to correct his mistake ? In order that the boy should 
have been self -helpful in correcting his error, he 



156 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

should have been required to pronounce the word 
slowly, so that he might apprehend the sound of 
each element thereof. If after this experience he 
should still have been confused in regard to the last 
syllable, the teacher should have asked him to pro- 
nounce it very slowly so as to separate it phonetic- 
ally, when he could not have failed to discover his 
error. The teacher should not have called up any 
special thing she had taught him. By means of skil- 
ful questions she should have led him to analyze the 
situation before him, so that he might apply to it 
what he had been taught that would help him to 
solve his problem. Then he would have been self- 
helpful in a real sense, because he would have 
learned how to assist himself on similar occasions 
in the future. 

During the recitation period in which "sirloin" 
was being spelled the expression "all right" came 
Making it unneces- up for attention. One pupil 
sary for pupils to use spelled it "alright". The 
their experiences teacher said, "You are not 

correct; try it again." This time the boy said "al- 
write". Then followed this comment by the teacher : 
"When you spelled it the first time the last part, 
'righf, was correct. You should not have changed 
that, but it was the first part that was wrong. Now 
try it and spell *air." In this way the pupil was led 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 157 

to spell the word correctly. This case, like the first, 
shows a lack of skill in training a pupil to be self- 
helpful. The teacher should not have told him that 
"right" was correct until he himself had discovered 
from an analysis of the word and its meaning that 
it was so. She should have required him to state 
what the word to be spelled meant, and then what 
"write" meant; and this would have led him to see 
that it was wrong to use this latter form. He was, 
of course, confused by the identity of the sound of 
the two words, and he was not really thinking of 
what the word to be spelled denoted. He was pro- 
ceeding more or less automatically in response to the 
sound, which is apt to become a habit with pupils 
who are depending upon others to assist them in 
straightening out their errors. If in all their work 
children could be held to an analysis of what they 
were attempting to do, so that they might bring to 
bear on the thing in hand their past experience with 
similar things in respect alike to meaning and to 
form, they would acquire a tendency to do this on 
every new occasion, which would be the greatest 
safeguard against the making of errors.^ This is 
really what the principle of self-activity demands; 
and the teacher who can utilize it to the greatest de- 
gree will certainly achieve the highest success in his 
work. 



158 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Most teachers feel they ought to assign tasks to 
be done by their pupils at home. It is expected that 
Home study by pu- parents will render assistance in 
pils and training in the performance of these duties. 
self-helpfiilness Indeed, teachers often say it 

would be impossible for their children to accomplish 
the necessary work of the school without some help 
in the home. It is a common thing to hear teachers 
tell their pupils they should get aid from their fa- 
thers and mothers ; but at the same time they "must 
do the work themselves". How many teachers ap- 
preciate that a large part of the tasks many pupils 
do at home with the assistance of their parents is 
largely mechanical ? It is probable that not one par- 
ent in fifty knows how to guide his children so that 
they will take the initiative in their study. Observe 
a father helping his nine-year-old son in arithmetic, 
let us say. It is req^uired to solve this simple problem : 
"A boy in going to school walks for fifteen rods 
along the street on which he lives. Then he turns 
to the right on a street that runs at right angles, and 
walks for twenty-five rods. Then he turns to the 
left on a street that runs at right angles and walks 
eighteen rods. He goes to school in the morning and 
in the afternoon, and comes home for his luncheon. 
How many rods does he walk in going to and from 
school each day ?" 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 159 

Of course, there is nothing in this situation which 
a fifth-grade pupil should not understand readily 
enough, if he be guided to think through the condi- 
tions step by step. But when he first reads the prob- 
lem he is apt to be confused, because all the condi- 
tions surge into his mind at one and the same time, 
and he has not learned how to pilot his way through 
them point by point. He is apt to say then, "1 do 
not know what to do." This always means that the 
total situation is confronting the novice, and he can 
not start at the beginning, and follow the straight 
path along to the end. Good teaching would lead 
him to do just this. A skilful teacher would not tell 
the pupil anything unless it appeared to be neces- 
sary. Such a teacher would simply lead the novice 
to start at the proper point in his thinking, taking 
up each factor in order, and making drawings so as 
to help him break up the total situation, writing 
down distances in the right places, and so on. 

But what is the parent apt to do ? His most active 
impulse is to ''help" the learner, which, as he thinks, 
The typical par- requires him to relieve the child 

ent's method of of his difficulties, and this 

"helping" his child means to enable him to get the 
answer with the least effort so he can present it to 
the teacher. The typical parent is Interested in hav- 
ing his child arrive at the result most easily, rather 



i6o EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

than in having him gain the experience of construct- 
ing the situation in his own mind, discovering the 
causal relations, and thus really solving the prob- 
lem. So the parent will in most cases tell the novice 
what to do. The parent may even take the pencil 
and do the figuring, partly because of his eagerness 
to *'help," and partly because of his unwillingness 
to take the time to cause the pupil to work every- 
thing out for himself. It is probable that most of 
the work done in the home is of this character. 
Needless to say, it develops vicious habits of mind 
in pupils, habits which it is difficult for the teacher 
to overcome. 

Let us glance at another instance of a common 
method of home instruction. A teacher sends a pu- 
An illustration of pil home with instructions to 
bad methods in look up in the dictionary the new 

home instruction words in his reading lesson, and 
to select from the definitions given for any word 
one which might be substituted for the original. The 
teacher tells the child he can have his mother "help" 
him, but that he *'must do the work himself". Now 
when the pupil comes to the mother for assistance, 
this is the way they attack the situation. The first 
word the child needs to look up is, we will say (this 
is an actual case, reported exactly as it happened) 
triumphal. He has not had much experience in 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK i6i 

manipulating the dictionary, so he starts at the be- 
ginning, and in a blundering way proceeds to go 
through the whole book until he discovers the let- 
ter T. What does the mother do in her role as as- 
sistant? When she sees how inexperienced he is, 
she says, "Why, you know the letter T comes after 
S, and is near the end of the alphabet. You must 
look toward the end of the dictionary. Find R; R 
comes before 5". Let me show you how to find it," 
she adds ; and she takes the dictionary and hunts out 
the letter T. 

But the novice does not understand how to go 
forward, even when he has the letter T; for he does 
not know what comes after T in the original, and 
he asks his mother. The mother then spells out the 
first syllable. She adds: "You know R comes to- 
ward the end of the alphabet, so you must look way 
along toward the end of the Ts." Then when he 
finally gets the Tri, and wants to know "what comes 
next," she tells him every letter as he needs it, and 
she also tells him its relative position in the vocabu- 
lary. All the child does is to go through the manual 
process of turning over the leaves. He has not really 
thought his way through any of his difficulties. 
Since he was not led to take the initiative at any 
point, he will be practically helpless if he is ever 
placed in another situation like this, because he has 



1 62 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

gained little, if anything, from his experience to-day 
which will make him self -helpful in the days to 
come. 

Some teachers depend altogether upon home 
assistance in the child's learning how to use the 
dictionary, which is, by the way, one of the most 
difficult feats for the novice, and one of the most im- 
portant, in order that he may avoid waste of time 
and energy. A distinguished physician recently said 
that the vision of a good many children is ruined 
from the use of the dictionary; and when one ob- 
serves the fruitless, unintelligent wandering through 
a dictionary of the typical fifth and sixth-grade pu- 
pil, he can appreciate that it is a serious tax on his 
physical and mental constitution. 

But let us continue with our typical case. The pu- 
pil finally happens upon the word triumphal, and it 
Teaching to satisfy for- i^ defined by the use of two 
mal requirements in- or three synonyms, none of 

stead of to train a pupil which is any more familiar 
in self-helpfulness to him than the word he is 

looking up. What does the typical parent do in such 
a crisis? He reads the synonyms to his child, and 
then tells him what one he had better choose to em- 
ploy as a substitute for the original. He does not. 
lead the novice to get some kind of a hold on the 
meaning of the unfamiliar words — either the orig- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 163 

inal or the substitutes. He simply asks him to learn 
memoriter the substitute agreed upon, so that he 
may satisfy the requirement of the teacher, whether 
or not he derives any useful training in the process. 
As intimated above, the parent is not concerned pri- 
marily with the value of the experience of a child 
in performing a task, but only in assisting him to 
get at the result, so that when the hour of need 
comes in the recitation, he can render up what he has 
memorized, and so satisfy the teacher. Of course, 
if the teacher would always make the proper test 
with a pupil to discover whether he had himself 
taken all the steps leading up to any conclusion, she 
would quickly discover that he had accepted the re- 
sult worked out by the parent, and absorbed it by 
sheer force of memory. 

If the lessons in any subject be mastered at home, 
there is some danger that the work will be done in 
a mechanical, memoriter fashion. It is the writer's 
opinion that the chief difficulty with modern teach- 
ing, as with teaching in all times probably, is that 
it seeks to get at formal results without regard to the 
sort of experience which the individual has in reach- 
ing the same. It requires patience and supreme skill 
to teach a learner to take the initiative in all that he 
is learning — to go ahead of the teacher instead of 
to follow on ; and in this way to be self -active in a 



i64 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

genuine sense. When a teacher says to her pupil, 
"You must do the work yourself", the latter Is apt to 
think this means learning by heart a process which 
has been Initiated by some one else. If the teacher 
could in any way make certain that the pupil would 
receive In his home expert guidance In taking the ini- 
tiative in his work, then there would be a distinct ad- 
vantage In having some tasks done there, because 
the parent could give his child individual attention. 
It ought to be possible to impress upon sixth-grade 
pupils, say, the value of doing most of the original 
work in any process themselves, seeking assistance 
only by way of guidance. And there Is a fundamen- 
tal difference between guiding and helping, as these 
words are ordinarily interpreted. In guiding an In- 
dividual, one simply causes him to consider the situ- 
ation before him so that he may see how he ought 
to move. In the hands of a skilful guide, the novice 
is led to consider all the conditions involved in mak- 
ing up his mind what he ought to do, v/hether in 
arithmetic, In geography, or in anything else. If he 
is attacking a new situation, he must be stimulated 
to call up all he has experienced that bears upon it. 
His Inclination will be not to do this. If he would 
do It spontaneously, there would be no need for 
teachers, of course. The tendency of the untrained 
person in a new situation is to become confused. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 165 

Not until he has had long training in using his ex- 
perience will he gain such momentum that he can, 
without any guidance whatever, employ it effectively 
so that he can solve his own problems. A well- 
trained college graduate ought to be able to do this 
on all occasions. A well-trained high-school pupil 
should be able to do it in most of the situations in 
which he finds himself in the high school. An 
eighth-grade pupil should be completely self -helpful 
in respect to much that he studies — ^practically every- 
thing in reading, very much in geography, most of 
arithmetic, and everything in spelling. The pupil in 
the first grade is, of course, the least able to use his 
experience so as to solve new problems. But no mat- 
ter what point he has reached in his educational de- 
velopment, skilful teaching can lead him to take the 
initiative in most of what should be taught him. 



CHAPTER VI 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 

In the preceding chapters we were occupied with a 
discussion of the teaching of subjects dealing with 
matters of content, or perhaps with ideas, as distin- 
guished from forms, or the means of expressing 
thought. When we were considering the method 
of presenting content studies to pupils, we were in- 
terested wholly in the development of thinking 
ability; but now that we must give attention to the 
acquisition of form subjects, we will need to inquire 
-how pupils can most readily and economically gain 
facility in the use of technique in spelling, in pen- 
manship, in singing, and so on. The attainment of 
clear thinking should be the end kept in view in 
teaching history, science, geography, and the like; 
but automatic execution must be the goal to be aimed 
at in the teaching of all symbolic or technical sub- 
jects. The functions of the content vs. the technical 
subjects are essentially different in human life, and 
they ought to be taught differently in the schools. 

Let us first glance at the teaching of spelling, 
i66 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 167 

which is a good example of a technical subject in 
Spelling as a typical which the aim must be to 
technical subject acquire automatic facility in 

execution. It is probable that no subject in the 
curriculum is so much discussed in our times as 
spelling. Newspaper writers are constantly com- 
plaining of the inability of graduates of common 
schools to spell ordinary words correctly. These 
writers lay emphasis upon spelling as the most essen- 
tial thing in the school. Of course, bad spelling is 
easily detected. One can not express himself in 
writing at all without revealing his ability or the 
lack of it in this regard ; and this is one reason why 
deficiencies in this subject are so readily detected by 
laymen. 

Recently a pupil in the fourth grade in a good 
school, as schools go, brought to his home a list of 
words to be learned for his spelling lesson. Here is 
the list: Honest, fanner, fence, potato, summer, 
cultivate, generally, harvest, threshing, company. 
These words were taken by the teacher from the 
selection which the pupils had in their reading lesson 
that morning. It is her practice to have the spelling 
lessons depend upon the reading, geography, and 
language lessons. She says that in this way she 
can select words which the pupils understand; and 
she is an ardent advocate of the theory that the child 



1 68 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

should be able to spell anything he can read. She 
believes, too, that if a pupil can spell a word he will 
be able to read it the more readily, so that the spell- 
ing will help the reading if the two be developed to- 
gether. 

See, now, how one's educational theories may 
often persist in spite of obvious facts indicating 
A practical quite contrary principles. The pupil re- 
test f erred to above was asked by his teacher 
on the day he was given the agricultural spelling list 
to write a little essay on some experience he had had 
on the way to or from school. When he proceeded 
to his task, he declared he could not vv^rite anything. 
"What shall I say?" showed the vacuity of his 
mind. The teacher had to "develop" the notion 
that on the way to school he had seen several birds, 
and she instructed him to tell something about them. 
So, after much wriggling in his seat, and gazing 
around to see what his classmates were doing, he 
finally produced the following: "On the stret 
(street) to school I saw sevn burds tha (they) were 
robins I tryed to cetch (catch) them but tha flu 
(flew) away tha were going sowth (south) for 
winter." 

The teacher had in her career handled a great 
many "essays" similar to the specimen given, but 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 169 

still she held to her view that the way to teach a 
child to spell is to take ten words a day from his 
reading and other lessons, and cause him to learn 
them as a list. At the same time, she would not 
think of asking her pupils to write essays in which 
they would employ words as difficult to spell as those 
they were being drilled on in their formal spelling 
exercises. When I suggested that, instead of asking 
the children to prepare an essay on some subject 
they had observed on the way to or from school, 
she should require them to write a story, using the 
ten words of the spelling lesson, she objected vig- 
orously. It seemed to her to be unreasonable to 
ask young pupils to treat such a difficult subject, and 
her point was well taken, probably, considering what 
experience the children had had in expressing them- 
selves in this way. 

I have been interested for some years in keeping 
the spelling lists of a group of children, and noting 
Ability to use the relation between these lists and 
words the the development of the children's 

true test actual spelling ability. I have found, 

and this may be familiar in principle to all my read- 
ers, that pupils may commit to memory lists of 
words every day, but be quite unable to spell many 
of them when they need to express themselves. And 



170 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the reason for this disparity between learning for 
mere recitation and learning for use seems clear. It 
is one thing to learn a word as a separate, isolated 
entity, and an altogether different thing to master it 
so it can be employed in its connections in a sentence. 

I am now observing a pupil who is required to 
memorize ten words a day; and he so establishes 
them in his visual memory that if I begin pro- 
nouncing at the bottom of the list, he may start 
spelling at the top. If I start at the beginning and 
go down to the fifth word, say, but skip it and go to 
the sixth or seventh, he will spell off the fifth with 
perfect confidence. He fixes the words in a mechan- 
ical order only. He really does not establish con- 
nections between the sound of any given word and 
its visual form. Much less does he gain such famil- 
iarity with words that he can use them as instru- 
ments of expression, simply because he does not 
have experience in using them in this manner. Do 
you suppose one could learn to use knives by simply 
learning the names of all the varieties made at Shef- 
field, and arranged in lists? The only way a pupil 
can acquire the ability to employ words readily and 
accurately is to learn them as he zvill need to employ 
them in the practical situations of life. 

Does this mean that it is useless to have spelling 
lists? Not at all. But it does mean that spelling 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 171 

Shall we have is to be gained mainly by writing 
spelling lists ? sentences, rather than by the mem- 
orizing of isolated words. Without question the 
novice should first learn to write his words sep- 
arately; if he attacks a sentence at the outset he may 
be overwhelmed by the complexity of it. He should 
have gained some freedom in handling the indi- 
vidual words of a sentence before he attempts to em- 
ploy them as a unity; but he must not leave any 
word he has attempted to learn until he can use it 
readily in its usual connections. 

It is certainly a wasteful, Ineffective method to 
introduce a new list of words every day, so that a 
large number may be learned in a year. I have 
tested pupils who have been taught in this way, and 
I have found that lists learned last week, say, may 
be almost entirely forgotten this week. They are 
not used; that is the trouble. They may be im- 
pressed consciously for an hour or for a day, but 
they are not fixed for good. They can be made 
secure only by a generous repetition in a variety of 
familiar situations. They must be got into the 
muscles, as it were, and not left merely as unused 
visual images, which may soon fade into nothing- 
ness. 

It will hardly be doubted that it is advisable to 
choose for spelling drill those words and phrases 



172 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

How shall we that the child Is seeing and employ- 
choose words ing most frequently every day in the 
for spelling ? regular work of the school. One ob- 
jection to the old-type spelling-book was that the 
lists of words offered were compiled without regard 
to what the pupil was studying in any grade. But 
even when the spelling lists are made up from the 
other studies being pursued at the time, there is still 
danger that if they are learned as lists they will be 
readily forgotten. It seems to be a law of the human 
organism, as true of the mind as of the body, that 
when a member or an idea is not used it is likely to 
degenerate. If you tie up the arm, the muscles will 
soon begin to decline. Let a person lie on a bed for 
two months, and he may discover that he can not 
walk when he makes the attempt. The muscles 
necessary for locomotion not being put to service, 
they become weakened, and begin to go out of busi- 
ness. So in mental function ; any image or idea 
which is not utilized in daily adjustment is likely 
to be eliminated readily. Nature seems to proceed 
on the doctrine that what is not necessary for use 
might better be got rid of as speedily as possible. 
Any one who has observed the changes taking place 
in his own memory must have noticed how this law 
applies to things which he once had at his tongue's 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 173 

end, but which, on account of not being used, have 
been forgotten, partially or completely. 

Further, when one develops any power of muscle 
or of mind, he can employ it in the way in which he 
has acquired it, but not in a different manner. One 
who has developed his muscles in a blacksmith shop 
can not use much if any of this special strength in 
vaulting, say. If one should wish to learn to vault 
a pole, he ought to get up his muscle by practising 
on this particular activity, and not on something 
altogether different therefrom. The same principle 
is true in respect to mental training. A ticket agent 
told the writer recently that the moment he enters 
his office he can answer any question pertaining to 
the time-table of his railroad, the price of tickets to 
the remotest cities of the United States, and so on. 
"But," he continued, "when I am away from the 
office, and a man asks me a question about the time 
any train leaves, or the price of a ticket, I can not 
remember the simplest matters often. I do not 
understand why when I leave this office I seem to 
forget all the details of my business." The explana- 
tion appears simple enough. We tend to recall any- 
thing in connection with the circumstances under 
which it was originally learned, so that if we change 
the circumstances, we are apt to forget for the time 
being. 



174 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Now as to spelling. In real life we hardly ever 
need to spell isolated words. We practically always 
are required to write them in sentences. But if we 
have learned them in isolated groups, even though 
they have been chosen from the regular studies, the 
chances are we will not be facile in spelling them 
as they will be used in daily life. Even if we require 
pupils to learn words in groups, we ought to follow 
this up with the requirement that they write them 
in typical sentences in which they will be likely to 
occur in the emergencies of real life. In this con- 
nection it should be noted that a pupil's spelling 
vocabulary can not keep pace with his reading 
vocabulary. Reading is a much simpler and more 
expeditious process than spelling. A pupil ought to 
progress far more rapidly in mastering words in 
reading than in spelling. If an attempt be made to 
keep his spelling up with his work in reading, geog- 
raphy, language, and other subjects, harm will result 
either to his spelling or to the subjects upon which 
it is based. 

It is a rule of pedagogy that through repetition 
any impression may be permanently fixed. Teachers 
Harmful drill who acquire their art by learning 
in spelling^ rules rather than by obseiwing chil- 

dren in the school-room often take this rule literally 
and seriously. Such teachers commonly assign a 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 175 

lesson like this : "Write each word in your spelling 
lesson twenty times." One teacher whose methods 
the present writer has been studying, applies the 
rule referred to very vigorously in the matter of 
spelling. If a pupil misses one word in a lesson she 
requires him to write it twenty times ; if he misses 
two words he must write each word forty times; 
three words, sixty times ; four words, eighty times, 
and so on. Recently a child in her room missed 
seven words in a lesson, and he was required to 
write each word one hundred and forty times after 
school. This made a total of nine hundred and 
eighty words that had to be written without an 
intermission by this unfortunate pupil. When he 
completed his task he was quite unstrung. He went 
to his home and cried over the affair for a long time. 
He was in such a nervous state that he could not 
restrain himself. An examination of the papers 
upon which he had written nine hundred and eighty 
words showed that during the last quarter of the 
task he frequently misspelled words. He might 
write a word correctly twenty-five times, and then 
the letters would be interchanged, and in some cases 
letters were omitted and others added. Now, will 
the reader please notice particularly that after the 
pupil had written the word correctly twenty-five 
times, he was likely then to misspell it ? What good 



176 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

did that drill do him? In respect to spelling, pure 
and simple, was he not injured in the performance 
of such a task? 

Any observing teacher may notice that after a 
child has written a word twenty-five times he is 
When the value likely not to gain any benefit from 
of drill ceases continuing to write it. What he 
does after that is apt to be entirely mechanical. 
Consequently he may not connect what he is writing 
with the visual or auditory form of the word. The 
moment he ceases to connect his execution with the 
way the word looks or sounds, at that moment the 
value of drill ceases. It may be that the average 
child can not write a word profitably more than ten 
times without a break. Certainly to write it one 
hundred and forty times as a penalty is a waste at 
best. It may be remarked in passing that the most 
serious consequence of such a proceeding is the un- 
wholesome effect upon the nervous system of the 
victim. It is safe to say that no child in the ele- 
mentary school can, after the close of school, write 
nine hundred and eighty words without nervous 
overstrain. A few experiences of this sort are 
likely to develop in a pupil marked distaste for the 
subject of spelling. The principle of repetition is 
a good one, but like everything else it may be easily 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 177 

abused ; and if carried to excess it may react, and 
prove of positive disadvantage. 

We may turn now to an interesting psychological 
problem in teaching spelling. A spelling exercise 
An error in was recently observed in which the f ol- 
teaching lowing words, among others, were used, 
spelling — surprised, sentence, picture, multipli- 

cation, together, signing, frightened, and minuend. 
The pupils had been given ten minutes or so in 
which to prepare themselves for the test. In study- 
ing their lesson they first looked at the words, then 
said over the letters, and endeavored to repeat them 
often enough to fDn them in a vocal series. After 
the test had been given, it was found that a number 
of the words had been misspelled by a majority of 
the pupils. Picture, frightened, and multiplication 
seemed to be especially difficult, though each word 
troubled one or more of the pupils. 

When the teacher came to correct the errors, she 
wrote each word on the board, and required the 
children who had misspelled it to look at the correct 
form for a moment, and then to attempt to repro- 
duce it accurately. This method was successful in 
some cases, but it failed altogether in other cases. 
For instance, one boy of average brightness looked 
at the word surprised for a moment, but when he 



178 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

came to spell it, he could not put the various letters 
in their proper places. The teacher was inclined to 
be severe with him, thinking that if he had really 
looked at it he could have perceived it and repro- 
duced it accurately. During the ten minutes while 
misspelled words were being corrected, there was 
much faultfinding on the part of the teacher, be- 
cause the pupils did not grasp the words at first 
glance. 

Was this teacher skilful in helping pupils to over- 
come their difficulties in this special field? While 
some phases of her method were highly commend- 
able, it was seriously defective in one respect. She 
wrote the word surprised, for example, on the 
board, and asked som.e pupil v/ho had missed it 
to look at it and then reproduce it. She knew she 
could herself see at a glance the entire word cor- 
rectly as a unit ; and why could not the pupils do the 
same if they earnestly tried, as they should do? As 
a matter of fact, most of what the teacher thought 
she saw when she looked at the word, v/as read into 
it from her previous experience with it. The word 
was really in her imagination, as we say; and she 
got a suggestion from the form before her, which 
revived the image established *'in her mind's eye." 
If a foreign word had been put there instead of a 
word she understood, she would have been confused 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 179 

in exactly the same way that the pupils were who 
had not seen surprised before. 

When a child who can not spell a word simply 
glances at it as a whole he may feel that he sees it 
so that he can reproduce each element, but the 
chances are that he does not see it at all clearly. In 
such a case the teacher should ask him to pronounce 
or write or spell orally the first syllable, say, then 
the second, and so on. If he has trouble with any 
particular part of a word, it should be separated 
from the rest, and he should spell it orally and write 
it until he gains a feeling of familiarity with it. 
Then it should be learned in its connections with the 
other parts constituting the word as a unit. 

The present writer is always distressed when he 
hears a teacher upbraid a pupil who is trying to 
One source of master* a complex thing, whether a 
confusion in word or anything else, when the lat- 
teaching^ ter is confused because he can not 

apprehend the elements thereof. It is extremely 
harmful to scold children because they can not per- 
ceive these complex units, which seem simple to the 
teacher who has had a great deal of experience with 
them. It is a principle of universal application, re- 
ferred to in a previous chapter, that when a child 
is dealing with involved objects of any sort, whether 
w^ords or plants or animals or cities or what-not, and 



i8o EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

he does not appreciate the elements, the teacher 
must lead his attention away from the situation as 
a whole, and get him clearly to apprehend the par- 
ticular parts thereof which are the cause of his 
trouble. Complaining at a pupil who can not grasp 
the complex thing serves no useful end. Indeed, it 
tends further to confuse the child, because it arouses 
painful emotions, and distracts his attention from 
the thing in hand. 

We are led now to consider the relation of 
analysis to synthesis in teaching a subject like spell- 
Syllabication ing. We have already noted that one 
in spelling of the chief difficulties with the pupil 
in learning to spell is due to his practical inability to 
analyze words into their elements. When the child 
comes first to school, and for several years there- 
after, his acquaintance with words is primarily in 
their oral form, and words when spoken are in many 
respects quite different from what they are in their 
written forms. In the child's use of words, he con- 
tinues to the greatest possible extent to employ them 
as unities, so that groups of letters as rendered 
orally appear tO' him to function as a single letter. 
To the child of six years of age, spoken words are 
indivisible unities, and it is a more or less difficult 
process for him to learn that they are composed of 
syllables, and of letters that have independent 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE i8i 

values. When he attempts to spell a word familiar 
to him in his speech, he attacks it on the basis of its 
oral form as he has been speaking it ; and this makes 
it impossible for him to concentrate his attention 
upon each element, with the result that he is likely 
to go astray in his spelling of it. 

Let any teacher obsei-ve a pupil in the fourth 
grade, say, who has not been trained to apprehend 
the syllables in the words he is learning to spell. 
For experiment, I pronounce to such a pupil the 
word granary, with which he is not familiar so far 
as spelling is concerned. He pronounces it after me, 
and it is evident that he is not aware of the three 
syllables it contains as more or less independent fac- 
tors in the word. When he pronounces it, the sec- 
ond syllable may not come out distinctly at all ; and 
if he starts to spell the word, he is likely to lose his 
way. It does not meet the situation for the teacher 
to analyze the word for the pupil, as many teachers 
tend to do, because they become impatient when the 
pupil does not analyze so readily and quickly as 
could be desired. What the teacher must do is to re- 
quire the pupil to make the necessary analysis for 
himself. If he goes astray at any point, the teacher 
must call him back to the word as a whole, and 
require him to pronounce it slowly, stressing each 
element if necessary, until the syllables get a certain 



1 82 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

distinctness and individuality in his attention. As 
soon as he acquires the tendency to do this on his 
own initiative, he will have become possessed of a 
method which will be of great service to him. 

There is a special caution which the teacher must 
observe in this analysis of words. There is a strong 
Dangers to be tendency to give a false value to 

avoided in the individual letters, when the sylla- 

analysis of words bles are treated more or less 
independently. Take, for instance, the word men- 
tioned above, granary. As spoken, the second 
syllable has the value of u. Now, if the teacher in her 
syllabic analysis gives this letter the value of a, in 
order to have the child apprehend the letter for pur- 
poses of spelling, there will be danger of her pupil 
being led into error. That letter a never has the 
value of a in this word, and the teacher must lead 
the pupil to associate it with its actual value in the 
word in question. The way this can be done best is 
first to give the letter the value which the pupil ordi- 
narily attaches to it, which will be a, we will say. 
Then he must be led to appreciate that when it is 
used in the relation found in granary, it is always 
shortened up or softened down in speech. We are 
here, of course, face to face with the first difficulty 
in learning to spell. In a great number of our words 
the letters do not function in combinations accord- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE i8 



o 



ing to their characteristics in isolation, and this is 
a source of great confusion to the novice. In help- 
ing him out of this difficulty, familiar words must be 
pronounced and analyzed as suggested, so that he 
may acquire the feeling that a often functions as 
u, as in usable, workable, etc. The principle applies, 
of course, to the treatment of all the vowels. Even 
as early as the second grade, pupils can be intro- 
duced to this matter of the variability of function 
of letters in English words. 

It must be impressed here that while in the first 
stages of learning to spell, pupils must be made con- 
scious of elements, still, the ultimate aim must be 
to lead them quickly beyond this stage so that they 
can use words as unities quite automatically. We 
are apt to gO' astray in respect to both these processes 
in our work in the class-room. There is danger that 
at the start we will not make elements stand out 
clearly enough for a novice, and that later we will 
not cause them to be fused together into unities, as 
the pupil becomes familiar with them in actual em- 
ployment of them in every-day expression. And, of 
course, this fusing can be secured only through con- 
stant use, in which the attention of the pupil is kept 
mainly upon the thought to be expressed, rather than 
upon the technique of the words he is employing. 

In this connection, attention may be called to the 



1 84 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

necessity of the teacher paying attention early to the 
Evil habits of habits of study of her pupils. To 
study must be give point to a suggestion to be 
guarded against made here, a concrete instance 
may be cited. A class in the third grade was re- 
cently studying a spelling lesson. The teacher had 
written ten words on the blackboard, and she had in- 
formed the class that after fifteen minutes the words 
would be erased, and the pupils would be required 
to write them as she pronounced them. Three or 
four members of the class took paper and pencil, 
and wrote the words several times during the study 
period; but most of the children spent their time 
looking at the words, and saying them over "in their 
minds". It was noticed that these latter pupils were 
easily distracted from their task, showing that their 
method of study was not favorable to the concentra- 
tion of attention upon what they had undertaken to 
do. When it came to the test, those who had written 
the words succeeded very much better than those 
who had tried to memorize them by oral drill. This 
is exactly the result one would expect, since the mere 
vocal repetition of words could not develop a large 
degree of ability and accuracy in reproducing them 
in a graphic way. What is of greater importance, 
the process of writing the words during the study 
period stimulated clear visual perception of them. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 185 

and required rather prolonged attention in order to 
execute them. 

Here is another instance of wasteful and inef- 
fective methods of studying a subject like spelling. 
Wasteful and inef- The revival in spelling which 
fective methods of is passing over the country re- 
preparing lessons cently overtook a large high 
school in a western city. The question of the im- 
provement of the spelling of pupils was frequently 
discussed in teachers' meetings, and it was at last de- 
cided to give special attention to the subject, with a 
view to eliminating the errors which appeared so 
frequently in all the written work of students. The 
method of accomplishing this end was to assign lists 
of one hundred and fifty words at a time to members 
of the freshman and the sophomore classes. Then 
an examination was held every alternate Friday 
afternoon upon these lists. No instruction was 
given the pupils regarding the way in which they 
should prepare their words. It was thought to be 
sufficient simply to assign the lists, and then to warn 
the pupils that in case of failure in examination they 
would be conditioned in the subject, and could not 
be promoted until the condition was removed. Most 
of the teachers maintained that all that was required 
in learning these words was for the pupils to ''work 
hard" upon them. 



i86 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

It is significant to note the manner in which a 
large number of students studied their words. Quite 
generally they attacked the entire list in the effort 
to go through it at one sitting. The usual method 
was to keep the list before them, to look at a word, 
and then to say it over "under the breath," until 
they felt they had so fixed it in memory that it could 
not escape from them. The majority of the students 
did not spontaneously write the words, and no sug- 
gestion was given them that they should pursue this 
method. The teachers took it for granted that one 
method was as good as another, only so that the 
pupils worked hard in the efrort to master the words. 
Many words in the lists were comparatively new, 
and most of them really had to be learned de novo. 
It is true that many of them had been previously 
memorized in the elementary school; but inasmuch 
as they had not been used since they were acquired, 
they were almost, if not entirely, forgotten. Not 
one of the students observed could remember that 
he had ever used in his writing in school or outside 
at least three-fourths of the words given in five lists 
which had been assigned in the high school. Certain 
of the pupils thought they had learned all the words 
in the elementary school, while other pupils could 
not recall whether they had learned most of them 
at any time. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 187 

Practically all the words seemed more or less 
familiar, but when the pupils were asked whether 
they were familiar because they had read them or 
because they had spelled them, they could not at first 
tell. HoAvever, upon reflection they usually reached 
the conclusion that the words appeared familiar be- 
cause they had seen them, and not because they had 
ever reproduced them in writing. Now, there are at 
least two serious mistakes which the majority of the 
pupils made in their effort to acquire these spelling 
lists. In the first place, they relied upon mastering 
them orally by reciting them over and over again. 
This method was wasteful and ineffective, because 
their tests were always written. Som.e of the pupils 
who could spell off the lists orally when their parents 
pronounced the words, missed a number of them 
when they came to write them. They said it was 
because they were excited, or had to write too rap- 
idly, or something else ; but the real reason probably 
was that they were not familiar with them in a 
manual way, so to speak. They could run them off 
vocally, no matter how rapidly they were pro- 
nounced, because they had fixed them in vocal 
habits ; but they could not readily transfer vocal into 
manual facility. 

There was another mistake which these pupils 
made In their method of study. They tried to learn 



1 88 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the entire list at once, with the result that at least 
some confusion and fatigue resulted therefrom. In 
certain cases, pupils made practically no headway 
after three-quarters of an hour of steady applica- 
tion, because the first words learned were obliterated 
by later impressions. It is safe to say that one hun- 
dred and fifty more or less unfamiliar words can 
not be recited over at one sitting without waste. In 
order to comply with the requirements of economy 
and efficiency, not more than twenty-five words 
should be learned at one sitting. Then there should 
be an entire change of occupation for a considerable 
period. If a student had one day in which to learn 
one hundred and. fifty words, it would be more 
effective for him to divide them up into six groups, 
leaving an interval of an hour-, say, between the 
learning of each group, rather than to try to mem- 
orize them all at one time. Of course, if the words 
are already familiar, so that new impressions and 
habits do not have to be established, then a large 
number can be acquired without a break. 

While we are speaking of methods of study, we 
may mention another important matter pertaining 
Auditory to economy and efficiency in spelling. 
familiarity It happened that a number of pupils in 
in spelling ^he class referred to could not correctly 
pronounce certain of the words in the spelling list. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE i8g 

As a consequence, when the teacher pronounced 
them they did not appear famihar, and the pupils 
went astray on most of them. In certain cases they 
substituted for a given word an altogether different 
one, showing they had no conception of the indi- 
viduality of the particular word in question. This 
sort of thing is a serious obstacle in learning to spell. 
If a pupil is required to reproduce a word when it is 
pronounced, he should, when he studies it, have 
clearly in consciousness its correct pronunciation, 
else he can not associate its reproduction with its 
sound. Teachers need to exercise the greatest care 
in assigning words to be certain that every pupil is 
familiar with them, to the extent at least of being 
able to pronounce them. 

In the preceding discussion of spelling, principles 
were mentioned which apply fully to the teaching of 
Facility in all verbal subjects, in which the 

manual execution; aim is to have the pupil acquire 
a lesson facility in employing words and 

from abroad phrases in the graphic form. It 

will be proper now to ask how he can acquire most 
expeditiously and effectively the technique of man- 
ual execution, as in handwriting. Any teacher of 
young children would be interested in observing the 
methods of teaching this subject employed in the 
elementary schools of Italy. The chief thing aimed 



190 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

at in these schools is to get the pupil to be neat and 
accurate in his work from the veiy beginning — ■ 
to make a calligrapher out of him in fact. The 
youngest pupils are not permitted to start with any- 
thing as complex as a letter. They are drilled for a 
long time in simply making lines. The greatest care 
is taken to have every stroke made correctly and 
esthetically from the very start. The lines are 
dotted out, and the pupil is expected to trace over 
them. Then, when in due course he comes to make 
the letters, all the proportions and space relations are 
indicated by guide lines and dots, and he is required 
to draw his lines according to the specifications 
given him. 

All the way along in his handwriting the pupil is 
kept working at his technique in the hope that he 
may become perfect in it. The Italians exalt tech- 
nique above everything else. They do finer, neater, 
and more complicated work in technical drawing 
than may be seen in any of our own schools, as far 
as the writer's observations go. But they do not 
use drawing as a means of expression. They do not 
represent anything, except conventional designs, by 
means of their elaborate technique. One rarely sees 
pupils in an Italian school expressing content 
through drawing. Now, a pupil who could repro- 
duce the most intricate formal figures with exquisite 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 191 

skill might be quite at a loss to know what to do if 
you should ask him to represent any familiar object 
or scene. 

The psychology of this matter seems perfectly 
simple. A familiar illustration of the principle is 
found in one's use of language. When one tries to 
express himself in a foreign tongue, of which he is 
not master, he at once sees that his thought becomes 
formal and disconnected. When one must give 
focal attention to the means of expression, he can 
not at the same time give proper heed to the content 
to be expressed, and the latter must suffer thereby. 
So in music ; one who is very conscious of technique 
while executing can produce only fonnal, and more 
or less mechanical results. It is apparent how this 
principle applies to handwriting. A pupil who has 
been so trained that technique monopolizes his atten- 
tion can not do vigorous, connected thinking while 
he is attempting to express himself. One who will 
study the autograph letters and manuscripts of great 
men and women, preserved in such collections as 
those to be seen in the British Museum, and in the 
Bodleian Library, at Oxford, will see that those who 
have done really good thinking have rarely if ever 
been calligraphers. Scarcely any of the specimens 
one may see in these great collections would be tol- 
erated in an Italian school, or in some schools at 



192 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

home. The teachers would say that pupils who 
wrote so "abominably" would" "never amount to 
anything". And it is possible that if Shakespeare 
or Johnson or George Eliot or Herbert Spencer or 
hundreds of others like them, were pupils under 
some of the teachers in our own schools, they would 
have very hard sledding on account of their hand- 
writing. 

Some studies made by the present writer have 
shown that a large proportion of the members of a 
The change made college faculty have changed 
in one's style fundamentally the style of their 

according to the writing since they left the ele- 
needs of expression ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^j ^^^^ ^^^^ 

were in school great care was taken with them to 
develop a "fine", "neat" hand; but when they came 
upon the necessity of expressing themselves readily 
and effectively they acquired a style suited to their 
special temperaments. It is probable that every per- 
son has certain natural peculiarities which may prop- 
erly show themselves in his writing, as in his speech 
or his walk or his gesture. And economy and efh- 
ciency require that we should not attempt to make 
all pupils write just the same hand. What we 
should demand is legibility, with a reasonable 
amount of neatness ; and then let each pupil preserve 
his individuality in his style. Certain it is that if 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 193 

we keep at a child incessantly because of defects in 
his handwriting, we will be likely to make him so 
conscious of mere technique that he will hardly be- 
come able to employ it automatically. 

Here is a type of man who will illustrate the 
principle. When he sits down to write a simple 
letter to a friend, he goes at the task as though it 
were a momentous undertaking. He writes slowly, 
and takes infinite care to have all his lines and spaces 
just right, mathematically and esthetically. In the 
course of his writing, one can observe him staring 
into vacancy several minutes at a time, and frequent- 
ly he scratches his head to incite his brain cells to 
greater activity. When he is all through one can see 
that he has wrought out only a rather stiff and 
formal product. It is technically good, but on the 
side of content it is more or less empty and lifeless. 
This man's writing furnishes a good illustration of 
a faulty method of teaching — a method which has 
exalted form above content. 

It may be instructive to give another instance, 
showing how undue emphasis put upon technique 
An illustration of may work harm to a child. J. 
exalting technique did not enter the public schools 
above content ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^g ^i^^ years of age. 

She had been prepared at home so that she could go 
directly into the fifth grade of a school in an eastern 



194 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

city. When she began her school life she could 
write readity in a slant style adapted to her peculiar 
temperament. Her handwriting had a personal 
character; it was not precisely like the writing of 
any one else. It was legible, though it was not 
beautiful ; but she could write automatically for the 
most part. However, when she entered the fifth 
grade, her teacher was not satisfied with her pen- 
manship, especially since the vertical style was in- 
sisted upon in that school. So it was ordered that 
J. should change her writing to the vertical form, 
and the teacher required that she should have a drill 
period every day in the school, and that she should 
also be given some special attention at home. 
Throughout the entire year in the fifth grade, J. 
tried to acquire this vertical hand. She became self- 
conscious about her writing, whereas before she en- 
tered school she would dash off whatever entered her 
mind without thinking much about the penmanship. 
But at the completion of the fifth grade, she had 
learned to write slowly and painstakingly in the 
effort to attain the technical perfection which her 
teacher desired. 

J. is now a junior in the high school. Her hand- 
writing is distinguished for its cramped, formal 
character. She still writes the vertical hand, and 
writes it rather slowly and laboriously. The teacher 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 195 

in the fifth grade impressed upon her so profoundly 
the necessity of taking great care that she can not 
free herself from the habits estabhshed at that time. 
It is not beyond the fact to say that she is now 
handicapped on account of her writing. Had she 
been allowed to develop freely she would probably 
have acquired a reasonably attractive style. At any 
rate, penmanship would not have been so great a 
barrier to her expression as it is now. 

The fifth-grade teacher who turned J. on the 
wrong track greatly overstressed the importance of 
uniformity in handwriting. She endeavored to 
m.ake all her children write in the same style. She 
would set vertical copies, which all her pupils were 
required to imitate. When their work was passed in 
each day, she would criticize it mainly from the 
point of view of technique. She would not accept 
anything which showed any individual variation 
from the conventional style in favor in her room. 
She exhibited in her school-room the writing of those 
children that was nearest like her own, and that 
showed the fewest individual characteristics. 

It is not unreasonable to say that this kind of 
teaching exerts a hannful Influence upon the de- 
velopment of facility in the use of writing as a 
means of expression, not only because it exalts form 
too highly, but also because it suppresses individual- 



196 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

ity. One can usually distinguish a person by his 
intonation. It is a part of his make-up. In the same 
way, one should be able to distinguish individuals by 
their handwriting. Individuality ought to reveal 
itself through the hand as well as through the 
tongue. It would be wrong to make all pupils intone 
in the same way, or gesticulate in exactly the same 
manner, or assume the same facial expression in 
response to any stimulus. So it seems wasteful to 
try to force a certain style of penmanship on all 
pupils, regardless of their individual temperaments. 
It is not intended to imply that a pupil should 
have no guidance or instruction in handwriting. Of 
Instruction course, he must be guided in his efforts 
in technique to write a legible form, especially in 
the beginning. It will be of help to a child when he 
is beginning to walk to give him assistance. Also 
one can do something toward helping him to acquire 
spoken language, though formal instruction can not 
accomplish much in this regard. Perhaps more at- 
tention should be given to writing at the start than 
to any of these other activities. But once a pupil 
gets started in the use of penmanship as a means of 
expression, then the chief emphasis should be put 
always upon the thing to be expressed. If his writ- 
ing is not legible, there will be need for greater care, 
just as when his speech can not be interpreted he 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 197. 

must make an effort to improve it so that he can be 
understood. It is probable that if we should follow 
this principle in our criticism of a pupil's handwrit- 
ing, we would accomplish the most we can for him. 
It may be mentioned in this connection that a 
study of the life of a child outside of school will 
show that he learns a great deal more or less inci- 
dentally while he is active in other directions. This 
is especially true in respect to his acquiring the 
means of doing things. The child never gives much, 
if any, conscious attention to walking; he simply 
keeps in his attention the objects he wishes to attain. 
Again, the child gives very little conscious attention 
to the learning of oral language. He endeavors to 
make himself understood. His mind is always filled 
with some idea to be conveyed, and the very compli- 
cated processes of speech are required with but 
slight deliberate effort. The child of three or four 
years is an expert in gesture, in facial expression, 
and the like, and yet he rarely endeavors consciously 
to acquire these arts. So one might go on at length 
to mention activities, skill, and ability which the 
child acquires without making them a matter of 
formal study. In all such cases, the end to be at- 
tained is the thing in the focus of consciousness, and 
the means of attaining it are gained on the side, as 
it were. The principle undoubtedly applies to the 



198 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

mastery of technique in handwriting and the like, 
though not to such an extent as in speech, perhaps. 
This question of magnifying technique, especially 
in the early years, brings up other problems asso- 
Too great emphasis ciated directly with it. The 
upon technique may Italian children are, as a rule, 
lead to nervous neurotic. They show nervous 

overstrain , • • ^^ r j. 

overstrani even m the first 

grades of school. There are undoubtedly many 
reasons for this; but it is probable that a potent 
cause of nervousness is too great insistence upon 
finely coordinated w^ork in writing and the like. 
The problems arising here have been well presented 
in a letter to the present writer from a teacher in an 
eastern city. She says: *Tn an institute last sum- 
mer, a lecturer stated that children just start- 
ing to write ought not to be permitted to make 
small-sized letters. He said their writing should 
be three or four times as large as the ordinary 
writing of a grown person. He thought it 
would injure the child's writing if he did 
fine, small work at the outset. But I have found in 
all my experience that the youngest children like to 
write as small as possible. I can not remember any 
child just starting in to write who ever of his own 
accord wrote in a large way, such as the lecturer 
advised. H the thoughts presented in the lecture are 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 199 

correct, why is it that very young children always 
wish to write in such a small hand ? I have noticed 
that they grasp their pencils tightly and bear on." 

It is unquestionably true that children five or six 
years of age, when required to write with a pen or 
pencil, will tend to make unusually small forms. 
They will seize the writing instrument tightly be- 
tween their fingers and "bear on". So far as I have 
observed, all teachers of young children must con- 
stantly work against the child's tendency to write in 
a cramped way, provided it is thought that this is in- 
jurious, either to his nervous system or to the de- 
velopment of efficiency in writing. The letter sug- 
gests that it is "natural" for children to write in 
this manner; and this brings up a difficult problem. 
It seems reasonable that if children almost uni- 
versally write as indicated, this style must be "nat- 
ural." 

But we should doubtless look at the matter from 
another standpoint. It is probable nature never de- 
signed that a child of five years should write with a 
pen or a pencil. At this tender age he has not ac- 
quired delicate, precise coordination of his fingers, 
such as is required in fine writing. Test him in 
threading a needle, for instance, and you will see 
that he grasps the thread and the needle in an ex- 
tremely tense way, much as he grasps his pen when 



200 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

he tries to write. On the other hand, if you ask him 
to execute a task requiring crude strength rather 
than dehcate coordination, you will find that he can 
perform it without undue strain or stress. For in- 
stance, he can use a knife in whittling usually with 
success, because he can grasp it with the whole hand, 
instead of simply with the tips of the thumb and 
fingers. Nature probably intended that a child of 
five or six should apply himself only to tasks that 
permit of rather coarse, non-precise actions, instead 
of fine coordination and precise control. 

Ask a child of five to perform delicately coordi- 
nated movements, and he will try to execute them 
by using crude power rather than precise coordina- 
tion. When he undertakes a delicate task he ap- 
pears to say: "Now I must make a great effort to 
do this." And "great effort" means using muscles 
for all they are worth. It means "bearing on" or 
pushing hard or grasping tightly with the fingers, 
and so on. In the adult's consciousness, a fine task 
like writing is interpreted to require exact control 
of the fingers without the use of the biceps, so that 
there is no undue force exerted. One can not ob- 
serve in a well-trained adult when he is writing, any 
muscular tension in the face, in the hands, or even 
in the fingers which are controlling the pen. There 
is practically no muscular effort ; there is simply very 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 201 

neat coordination. But now observe a beginner; 
you will notice tensions all over his body — not only 
in the fingers that are being used, but in the fingers 
that are not used, and even in the toes. One who has 
made no observations along this line will be sur- 
prised to note how extensively the muscles through- 
out the body are made tense when a child of five is 
just starting to write with a pen, or even with a 
hard lead-pencil. 

I agree with the lecturer quoted, that young chil- 
dren ought to write a large, free hand; and if we 
Developing tlie ideas can do so we ought to pre- 
of lightness and rapid- vent their making small, 
ity in the place of cramped letters in the begin- 

power and effort ^-^^ But how can we ac- 

complish this? When I received the above letter, I 
began an experiment with a girl of six years of age, 
who had been having little lessons in writing for 
three or four weeks. She wrote in the small, 
cramiped way described in the letter. She had 
learned to write several words, like "hen", "wig", 
and ''pig". When I would ask her to write one of 
these words, she would grasp her pencil tensely 
and bend over her paper. Her body would become 
rigid, her head would go around with her fingers; 
and she would write slowly and with muscular ef- 
fort. She illustrated exactly the typical child who 



202 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

is permitted to follow his own course in a matter 
of this kind. That is to say, she accentuated effort 
instead of coordination. 

This particular child had used a pencil of very 
small diameter, which aggravated the tendency to 
grasp it in a tense way. I substituted for the small, 
hard pencil one of soft lead and large diameter. 
Then I asked the child to take the pencil v/ithout 
any tension, simply holding it in her fingers. Next, 
taking her hand in my own, I asked her to swing it 
around lightly with me on the letter h. (We were 
practising on the word "hen".) I called attention 
to the light-looking line we had made compared 
with the heavy-looking one she had been making, 
and said to her that we wanted to make as light 
a line as we could. After we had written the letter 
rapidly and lightly, I asked her to try it herself. Of 
course, when she felt the full responsibility of the 
task, her tendency was to grip the pencil, and 
"bear on" in the execution of the task. By observ- 
ing her and taking her hand again, and emphasizing 
the idea of writing quickly and making a light line, 
it was not long before I was able to impress upon 
her the idea of rapidity and lightness, so that vv^hen 
I would release her hand she would tend to move 
rapidly and lightly; though, of course, she would 
easily slip back into her original practice. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTF 203 

We kept at this for five minutes and then let it 
go. In the afternoon we had another exercise ex- 
tending over ten minutes, in which first the letter 
h was written, and then the whole word "hen", in a 
rapid way, with the idea of making lightness and 
rapidity prominent. It should be said that the pur- 
pose of emphasizing the idea of a light line was to 
counteract the tendency to make a heavy one. I knew 
if I could establish the notion of making a very- 
light line, that this would be the best way to release 
the tensions, and to resist the impulse to apply great 
muscular power. A child of six can control his 
muscles in writing if he can only get the idea of 
doing the thing rapidly and lightly. And if once he 
can gain the feeling for lightness of line, later on he 
can make it heavier if this be thought desirable. But 
what we want to do in the beginning is to give the 
pupil a set in the direction of making light marks, 
and running them off swiftly. The last point should 
be impressed. It is practically certain that if a child 
works slowly, tensions will develop, and he will 
"bear on". He will become too conscious of the de- 
tails of his task, which he will endeavor to execute 
by giving attention to each element thereof. 



CHAPTER VII 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE — CONCLUDED 

The writer has for several years been following 
the method used in the teaching of a girl, now four- 
An illustration from teen years of age, to play the 
instruction in music piano. She began her lessons at 
the age of ten, and has been faithfully practising up 
until her fourteenth year. She had had no experi- 
ence in playing previous to beginning instruction 
with her present instructor, who impressed upon her 
at the outset the notion that the first requirement was 
to gain facility in the use of the fingers. The teacher 
insisted from the start that correct habits must be 
gained in the control of the hand, the fingers, the 
wrist, the elbow, the arm, and the body as a whole. 
The novice was not permitted to practise any exer- 
cise in the teacher's presence unless she observed all 
the technical details mentioned. At the end of the 
first year, the pupil could play only two or three 
simple airs; and her chief aim in these was to main- 
tain correct bodily positions, and to exhibit the ap- 
proved sort of technique in execution. It would be 

204 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 205 

apparent to any observer that she did not feel the 
spirit of the thing she was executing. She did not 
play her selections mainly because she enjoyed them, 
but rather because they gave opportunity to practise 
on technique. Her own consciousness was concerned 
more with accuracy in technical execution than with 
the spirit, life, and color of the music itself. At the 
end of the first year of instruction, nothing could 
induce the pupil to take liberties with the mechanics 
of playing; and at the end of the fourth year, while 
some freedom has been gained in execution, never- 
theless the thing that looms up in consciousness as 
of chief value is correct technique. At no point in 
this girl's instruction has she been made clearly to 
appreciate that the sole reason for observing me- 
chanical rules at all is to enable her to secure the 
effects which she desires In her musical expression. 
She does not view her technique as a means to an 
end, so much as a thing of value in itself and for its 
own sake. 

Let us now glance at a method of teaching sing- 
ing in which technique is exalted to the place of 
Execution chief importance. In a certain eastern 
in singings city, the supervisor of music not long 
since issued instructions to the teachers regarding 
certain details in the teaching of vocal music. First, 
he complained of the lack of order and self-control 



2o6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

which he found in many of the rooms he visited 
during the singing periods. He maintained that pu- 
pils should be required to sit erect in their seats, and 
to keep their bodies still. He said that often during 
a singing exercise the boys especially would tap out 
the tune with their feet, which he thought was a 
grievous error; and he urged the teachers to pre- 
vent any unnecessary and distracting actions of that 
sort. He advised his teachers to insist that while 
singing pupils should always stand erect, with their 
heels together, the body being kept under per- 
fect control. The head should be kept to the front, 
the book should be held in the left hand on a level 
with the chin, and the right hand should hang at the 
side. 

In the city referred to, the teaching of music is not 
begun until the second grade. There is some rote 
Elementary facts singing in the kindergarten, and 
of tedinique occasionally a song Is sung at 

opening exercises in the first grade ; but little if any 
importance is attached to this as a means of devel- 
oping either musical appreciation, or freedom and 
efficiency in expression. It is thought that musical 
instruction proper is begun in the second grade, when 
the children commence to learn elem.entary facts of 
technique. They are first required to "sing the 
scale", which is written on the board before the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 207 

children. The teacher executes it, and requires the 
pupils to follow her imitatively. When she thinks 
some facility has been gained in "singing" the scale, 
she introduces the names of the symbols employed 
in musical notation. These names are defined, and 
the definitions are learned by heart by the children. 
It is maintained in this community that no progress 
can be made in reading music until the symbols as 
employed in its expression are understood; and by 
understanding is meant mainly the ability to give 
correct formal definitions. 

So this work goes on throughout the second and 
the third years, attention being given almost en- 
tirely to the learning of definitions of musical sym- 
bolism, and the execution of elementary technique, 
the "singing" of scales, and the producing of tones 
in reaction upon symbols read or dictated. After a 
time, songs are introduced and are learned through 
the use of the notation which has been memorized. 
These songs are not first sung "by ear" and then 
by note; but in the very beginning pupils are re- 
quired to read the song, so to speak, through the 
symbolism which they have learned. The teacher 
asks, "What key is this song written in?" "Where 
is the first note located ?" And she adds — "Sing the 
notes by syllable in the first measure." "Now sing 
the words instead of the syllables." In this way each 



2o8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

song is learned. The aim throughout is to drill upon 
technique. The children get their set in the direc- 
tion of giving heed mainly to the mechanics of sing- 
ing. The teacher does give some attention to what 
is called "expression"; but this is again mainly an 
application of technique which has been memorized. 
At a particular point in a given song, there may be 
written a symbol which indicates accent, stress, live- 
liness, loudness, or some other quality; and then the 
pupils are required to apply what they have learned 
in interpretation of this symbol. It is exactly such 
a method in principle as was followed some years 
ago in teaching a pupil to read. To observe punctu- 
ation in reading, pupils were required to stop for 
one count at a comma, two counts at a semicolon, 
three counts at a colon, and four counts at a period. 
Under such instruction, a novice in reading always 
attempted to apply his rules instead of to give nat- 
ural expression to the thought which was under- 
stood and felt, and which ought naturally to be ex- 
pressed in a given way. 

It is a simple matter of psychology that in its 
fundamental character rhythm concerns muscular 
Development of an ap- action rather than mere au- 
preciation of rliytlim ditory appreciation. Indeed 
it would be impossible to have auditory appreciation 
without some motor response. It is doubtful if the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 209 

ear alone could ascribe a rhythmical character to 
sounds. It is only as the organism, or some mem- 
ber thereof, adjusts itself to the sounds in a regu- 
lar way that a rhythmical is distinguished from an 
unrhythmical series. At any rate, the novice can not 
comprehend any complex rhythm in song or musical 
instrument by simply listening to it. He must first 
act it out. Nature seeks to encourage him in this, 
because he will spontaneously tap with his foot or 
hand in response to rhythm which is more or less 
unfamiliar to him. Often, of course, people continue 
throughout life to respond by hand, foot, and body 
to clearly accented rhythms, such for instance as one 
finds in the ordinary dance music. 

What nature has taught the child to do sponta- 
neously, the teacher should do with distinct purpose 
General motor before before a song is sung. By 
special vocal execution children in the primary 
grade the song should be clapped out in response to 
the teacher's singing. If the whole body can be 
brought into play in reacting in harmony with the 
song, it will help to establish its rhythm. The more 
completely hands, head, body, and feet can be at- 
tuned to the rhythm in the beginning, the more read- 
ily will it be grasped by the ear, and the more easily 
can it be executed by the voice. 

Before an attempt is made to sing a song, it ought 



2IO EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

to be hummed through with the sole purpose of 
marking the rhythm in the voice. To sing words in 
a rhythmical way is far more difficult for the novice 
than simply to vocalize in a rhythmical way. In the 
latter case, consciousness is occupied solely with the 
marking of rhythm vocally, just as in the beginning 
the aim is to mark it in clapping, or in tapping with 
the foot, or in movements of the head. But when 
words are introduced, there is the complicated 
process of pronouncing them in rhythmical phrases 
or patterns. Before the novice undertakes this task, 
he has spoken his words without regard to the 
rhythms which must be observed in song. And when 
he tries to utter them now in these new patterns, he 
must resist the old habits to speak them straight off 
without regard to phrasing, except as the thought 
may require it. Any observer of young people must 
have noticed that they can often *'sing" a scale, us- 
ing such a syllable as la, but when they com.e to re- 
produce the words of a song instead of the syllable 
they are often confused, and unable to perform the 
task. 

As the novice must first execute rhythm in a mo- 
tor way, so his appreciation of rhythm in song and 
The child's inter- in instrumental music is deter- 
est in action songs mined largely by his interest in 
action. The young are fond of songs which sug- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 211 

gest action. On the vaudeville stage, which appeals 
so strongly to the "crowd", the singers are always in 
movement, which is consonant with the rhythm of 
their songs. The novice is pleased in part by the 
song, but more largely perhaps by the rhythmical 
movement. Unquestionably the chief reason why 
the young are so passionately fond of the singing in 
the vaudeville theaters is because of its muscular 
character, so to speak. A singer who does not ac- 
cent the rhythm of his song with bodily movement 
of some kind can not claim the enthusiastic atten- 
tion of young auditors. When a vaudeville audience 
disperses, one may observe that a large proportion 
of the people — the young especially — begin to re- 
peat the songs, and they always reproduce the ac- 
companying rhythmical movements. They rarely 
sing over the songs which may in themselves be 
rhythmical, but which have not been presented with 
appropriate motor accompaniment. 

This principle is seen In the songs which children 
choose in the schools when they are given an oppor- 
tunity so to do. Rarely will children below the sev- 
enth grade show preference for songs which aim to 
celebrate the beauties of nature, say, in color or in 
form. The writer has been able to observe a teacher 
instructing a group of fourth-grade children in sing- 
ing a song describing the attractions of the pussy- 



212 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

willow. It was evident that the teacher felt the sen- 
timent of the song; and she expressed her feeling 
for it in her vocal and facial expressions. One could 
not doubt that the teacher's singing was genuine. 
There was an indication of true feeling in it, and it 
impressed the observer as being natural, pleasing, 
effective. But the children sang in a mechanical 
way for the most part. They seemed to observe the 
formal rules with respect to pulsation, duration, and 
position; but the essential qualities of vocal music 
were lacking, except, perhaps, in the case of two or 
three of the older girls in the group. So far as one 
could tell, the boys were wholly unaffected by the 
song; they were apparently performing a task merely 
because it was required of them. 

The explanation of this seemed obvious. The 
pussy-willow, which meant so much symbolically to 
the teacher, and which incited her to appropriate ex- 
pression, did not affect her pupils at all as it affected 
her. The tendency to assign attributes of tenderness, 
delicacy, heroism, and the like, to objects in nature 
unquestionably develops slowly, and is not at all 
prominent before adolescence. It is only as the in- 
dividual becomes more or less introspective, and be- 
gins to feel the tragedies of life, so that tenderness 
and grief and heroism and delicacy acquire definite 
meaning for him, that he can ascribe them to the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 213 

objects around him. The child is probably nearer 
than the adult to the realities of life. He tends to 
view objects without preconception or sentiment. 
He regards the pussy-willow, for instance, from the 
point of view of its construction, and how he can 
use it, and he does not read into it qualities of cour- 
age, aspiration, etc. Doubtless education should 
utilize every phase of nature which will enable the 
child to objectify his experiences and sentiments, 
and then to enjoy them or to admire them as if they 
actually existed outside of his own consciousness. 
But we must not move too rapidly in respect to this 
matter. If the child be asked to simulate feeling be- 
fore he actually experiences it, his performances will 
be mechanical and artificial ; whereas the expression 
of the adult in a similar situation might be real and 
vital. 

Here, then, is seen one reason why much of the 
singing in the schools impresses one as being artifi- 
One reason why sing- cial and formal. Songs are 
ing is often formal often chosen for their senti- 
and mechanical mental value, as viewed by the 

adult; while the child would, if left to his own 
choice, select songs that are full of action. Let him 
sing a song in which he has an opportunity to imitate 
a bass drum, say, and there will be no difficulty in 
claiming his interest, and making his expression 



214 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

genuine. Let him accompany his vocal activity with 
marching, and he will at once enter into the situation 
with his whole being; face, voice, and body will 
reveal his appreciation of it, and the naturalness of 
his expression. 

This instance is typical of the sort of songs that 
are appropriate for the young, while they are in the 
stage of development in which motor needs pre- 
dominate over appreciation. In the course of 
development, the point will be reached when motor 
activities will subside, and appreciation will become 
ascendant. When this period is reached, the individ- 
ual can then celebrate in song experiences which are 
mainly appreciative, and which portray sentiment In 
the way of aspiration, hope, and the delight in what 
is symbolically beautiful and moral in nature. But 
all this is suitable only for the adult whose needs 
give importance to those values. In the high school, 
the songs should concern nature in its esthetic 
forms and its symbolism of human qualities, and 
they should also relate to human life in its aspira- 
tions, hopes, trials, triumphs, and so on. Thus there 
should be a gradual evolution in songs from those re- 
quiring motor expression mainly to those requiring 
ethical, esthetic and moral appreciation. 

Nothing has been said thus far of the course 
which the child needs to pursue in learning to Inter- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 215 

First steps in teaching pret musical symbols, so that 
a novice to read music ^hen he looks upon a page 
of music the forms suggest to him automatically 
appropriate tonal qualities and vocal expression. In 
teaching the novice to read linguistic symbols, it is 
the aim of good teachers now to lead him as speed- 
ily as possible to interpret readily groups of 
words which portray an idea. In reading, the sole 
object is to have the consciousness of the reader 
filled with meaning rather than with words as mere 
forms or symbols; and as meaning is not conveyed 
by isolated words, much less by parts of words, so 
it is necessary to read by phrases or clauses, or even 
by sentences as unities. Indeed, some persons seem 
to have the ability to make the paragraph rather 
than the separate sentences constituting it the unit 
in reading. At least they give attention in only a 
minimal way to separate sentences, but in a maxi- 
mal way to the paragraph; and this is advisable 
often, since the unit of thought in much of what the 
individual reads is actually in the paragraph rather 
than in any of the smaller linguistic unities. 

Economy and efficiency in reading linguistic sym- 
bols seems to apply to the reading of musical sym- 
The relation between bols, though this principle 

reading linguistic sym- is not yet appreciated by 
bols and musical symbols a good many teachers, 



2i6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

and apparently not by the majority of musicians. 
This may account in part for the very different re- 
sults obtained in the teaching of reading as com- 
pared with the teaching of music. Of course, more 
time and energy are usually devoted to the former. 
But even in schools where as much time is given to 
music as to reading, the pupils seem to make greater 
progress in the latter than in the former. In the 
teaching of reading to-day, good teachers have aban- 
doned the practice of first memorizing the alphabet, 
then joining letters together to make syllables, and 
then combining words into sentences — two-word 
sentences at first, and later on others more involved. 
Hardly any teacher in touch with contemporary 
thought would fail to put emphasis at the outset 
upon the word or the sentence when introducing a 
child to reading. In due course, she would lead him 
to analyze the words into their sound elements to 
which the appropriate letters would be attached, in 
order that he might be aided to make out new words 
for himself; but this analysis would come after, not 
before the learning of words. So in the teaching of 
music, the novice ought first to execute a phrase or 
a song as a unity ; and later he should discover how 
the phrase or song may be written in appropriate 
symbols. Before ever a word is said about any mu- 
sical symbol, the pupil should have worked out in his 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 217 

body and voice the rhythms of easy songs. Also he 
should have gained facility in the vocal expression of 
rhythm, just as he should gain facility in the use of 
language before he learns to read. No one would 
think of asking a child to learn visual linguistic sym- 
bols before he had learned to speak. The visual sym- 
bols must relate to language which he has already 
thoroughly mastered. In the same way, to introduce 
a child to musical symbols before he has gained 
some ease in singing seems uneconomical and inef- 
fective. When this is done the result will be that 
he will learn rules for vocal execution, but he will 
not master musical symbolism in the true sense, 
which sliould be simply suggestion of oral and au- 
ditory qualities. 

As in linguistic symbols isolated letters have no 
value, so in vocal music the Individual note is prac- 
We must begin with tically without significance. But 
the largest unities i^ the novice be led at the out- 
possible without go- set to execute notes in isolation, 
ing beyond the pu- giving them distinct individual- 
pil's ability to exe- jty, they will come to occupy a 
^ "^ ^ more or less independent place 

in consciousness. This simple law is familiar to all 
capable teachers of reading. The child who early is 
made to learn isolated letters tends to acquire a set 
in the direction of giving them independent value, 



2i8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

with the result that in his linguistic training he is 
likely to be handicapped in the effective use of words 
in the gaining of ideas. At the same time, when the 
pupil is first introduced to reading, he must often 
deal with separate words, because sentences may be 
too complex for ready comprehension. But he is not 
permitted to dwell upon the individual words until 
they get a prominence which they will tend to keep 
later on, when they really ought to lose their indi- 
viduality. In the consciousness of a good reader, 
ninety-nine out of every one hundred words are sim- 
ply dimly apprehended elements of some larger lin- 
guistic unity. 

This principle in its application to the teaching of 
singing would require that while the pupil might 
begin with the individual notes and dwell upon them 
just long enough to get a feeling for their individu- 
ality, still he must very speedily come to handle 
them in musical phrases or sentences. He must not 
be permitted to get his set on giving attention to 
separate notes; he must get in the habit of fusing 
them, into larger unities. He must be trained so that 
when he looks at a musical phrase, it will be inter- 
preted as a unity. It is only when the organic rela- 
tion of any particular note with other notes in a 
phrase is appreciated that the musical thought is ap- 
prehended. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 219 

There is, perhaps, no greater fault in current mu- 
sical teaching than the failure to develop early in 
pupils the tendency to interpret and execute in terms 
of large unities, instead of being confined to mere 
elements which are without value in themselves. 
Often pupils in the elementary school, and even in 
the high school, whose musical training has pro- 
ceeded according to the analytic method, wherein 
primary importance is given to the simplest ele- 
ments, never reach the point where these elements 
coalesce into unities expressive of true musical ideas. 

One who has taught children linguistic reading 
realizes that he must constantly guard against the 
Heading musical tendency of a novice to devote his 
symbols at sight attention to the smallest unities. 
Without question, a novice regards it as more diffi- 
cult to handle a sentence as a whole than the indi- 
vidual words of which it is composed. The very 
length of the sentence may frighten him. Naturally 
he will tend to work with what appears to be the 
easier unit. The teacher then must make use of de- 
vices to encourage him to grasp the larger unities 
in one pulse of attention. She must stimulate him 
to interpret rapidly. She must give him a limited 
amount of time in which to grasp a phrase or a 
clause or a sentence, or even a paragraph. In the 
very beginning, she will assist the reader to perceive 



220 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

large unities by swinging her pencil over a phrase or 
a clause, thus suggesting to the eye that it should be 
apprehended as a unit. Now, in the teaching of mu- 
sical symbols there exists the same need to incite 
the novice to grasp unities as a whole. Singing at 
sight will assist in this process, just as reading at 
sight is a stimulus to the novice to push rapidly 
through linguistic symbols to their meaning. When 
the novice is given plenty of time, he will be in- 
clined to dawdle over isolated elements. But if he 
be required to get the meaning of a sentence or a 
paragraph within a limited period of time, he will 
strive to go directly thereto, and this will compel 
him to give heed to significant rather than to mere 
structurally simple unities. With practice the novice 
may acquire a set in the direction of attending to 
meaning, and interpreting symbols more or less au- 
tomatically. Any method of teaching which will fa- 
cilitate this process is to be commended, for it will 
help to accomplish one of the chief ends in the mas- 
tery of musical technique — to employ it easily and 
readily in the largest unities possible. 

There are certain differences betwen linguistic and 
musical elements which should be appreciated by the 
The value of the sim- teacher. The sounds of indi- 
plest musical elements vidual letters in language are 
without emotional or ideational value to children; 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 221 

thovigh in certain systems of teaching reading, there 
has been an attempt made to associate artificially the 
sound elements with the noises made by animals. 
But in music every tone has a certain peculiar value. 
The la tone, for instance, has a special value for 
most if not for all persons. Do has a different 
value ; and so each tone produces a characteristic ef- 
fect upon those who hear it. It results, then, that 
when these are put into combination the result is 
sad, gay, cold, cheerful, inspiring, or disheartening, 
according to the predominance of one or another of 
these tones. The novice can be easily led to appre- 
ciate that any given song is expressive of certain 
mental states or attitudes or feelings, because of the 
prominence of particular tones. The instant he looks 
upon a page of musical symbols expressing a song, 
its general character should be revealed to him, 
much as when he looks upon a human face, the lines 
and all the expressive media suggest the character of 
the individual, and indicate whether he is habitually 
joyous, melancholy, generous or the reverse. It 
should not be necessary for a pupil to "hum 
through" a tune in order to determine its character. 
The eye alone, grasping the musical phrases, should 
reveal the nature of the song in respect to its funda- 
mental, emotional value. Of course, this result can 
never be attained if the pupil is kept over-long in 



222 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

dealing with individual notes, laboriously decipher- 
ing the songs which he is required to sing. 

V/e may now glance at another phase of our 
problem. The writer had an opportunity recently to 
While emphasis is put observe a series of lessons 
upon the higher uni- being given on the piano, 
ties, the lower ones ^he teacher is an expert in 

must not he ignored ^ i • i ^- i • 

^ technical execution, and is 

regarded by his colleagues as one of the best-trained 
musicians in the country. The pupil is a girl four- 
teen years of age. She has had two or three years 
of more or less incidental musical instruction, her 
attention being given miainly to her work in the ele- 
mentaiy and in the high school. She has no inten- 
tion of becoming a professional musician; her par- 
ents simply desire that she should acquire an ''ear 
for music", and that she should be able to play a lit- 
tle, principally "for her own amusement". 

During this lesson, the teacher dwelt mainly upon 
the meaning of the selection being studied. He 
talked about the scenes which came into his mind's 
eye as he read one after another of the musical pas- 
sages. Then he would show his pupil how he would 
express these visual images which he said were very 
clear in his own mind. Even a novice could under- 
stand that this man felt music, and was trying to 
have his pupil appreciate what most impressed him- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 223 

self. He was not thinking about the technique of 
the thing ; he was concerned whoHy with its content. 
But as a teacher, his musical appreciation served 
rather as a handicap than as a help to him. The mu- 
sical symbols and the technical processes in execu- 
tion had become thoroughly automatic in his case. 
For him the sole requisite now is to develop the con- 
tent for musical symbolism. The more truly and at 
the same time deeply he feels a musical situation, 
the more effectively will he render it, because the 
means of expression have become automatic; just as 
a good reader is unconscious of the letters or the 
words he sees, or of the vocal movements required 
to pronounce them; or just as a child who has 
learned to walk is unconscious of the details of an 
object he sees, and of the locomotive technicalities 
required to secure it. As a result of his mastery of 
technique, this teacher could not readily put himself 
at the point of view of his pupil, who lacked ability 
to read the symbols readily or to execute them. As 
one watched her he saw her ti*ying quickly to make 
out a musical passage, and then striving to render 
it on the keyboard. It appeared that her attention 
and energy were given wholly to these technical 
processes. And the instructor only increased her 
difficulties by talking to her constantly about the 
content, showing how he felt about it, and what 



224 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

images were awakened In his fancy in different parts 
of the selection. The effect of all this was really to 
overpower the novice, and the hour passed without 
any particular progress having been made. She 
could not appreciate the content because she was 
struggling with the technique, and she could not 
make rapid headway in mastering the latter because 
of the instructor's failure properly to help her. 

Let us leave the subject of music at this point, and 
glance at the teaching of drawing. The writer can 
An illustration remember the time when instruc- 
from the teach- tion in drawing throughout the 
ing of drawing country was confined mainly to the 
reproduction of outline copies of conventional ob- 
jects in copy-books. The aim in this instruction was 
to have pupils reproduce formal copies with tech- 
nical accuracy. It was evidently thought by many 
teachers in an earlier day that experience in this 
work would develop ability to represent actual ob- 
jects readily and accurately. It is worthy of special 
remark, however, that these teachers rarely if ever 
made actual tests with pupils to determine whether 
as a matter of fact they acquired the ability to por- 
tray real objects as a result of their drill in reproduc- 
ing outlines. The writer recently asked a teacher 
whose pupils had often drawn dogs in outline, if she 
would have them represent a particular dog which 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 225 

had come to the school that day with one of the chil- 
dren. The teacher permitted the pupils to attempt 
the task, but she expressed grave doubt whether they 
could successfully accomplish it, for the reason that 
they had had no experience whatever in such work. 
They had been in school for six years on the average, 
and they had been drawing in copy-books more or 
less regularly for at least four years. 

When they came actually to represent the dog, 
they were quite helpless even to take the initial steps 
in the process. It was almost as though they had 
never seen the object, though they had drawn it in 
outline a great many times in their copy-books. Ap- 
parently they could discern no connection whatever 
between the copy which they had been reproducing, 
and the living reality which they were now asked to 
represent. 

The terms reprodtiction and representation denote 
quite different psychological processes. In the for- 
Keproduction mer case, the individual is required 
vs. merely to execute point by point a 

representation ^opy which is set before him. What 
he seeks to do is to make his work resemble exactly 
the original. The requirements in such a case are, 
on the motor side, facility in execution, and, on the 
mental side, an appreciation of the direction of lines, 
and spatial relations. But when an individual must 



226 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

represent a real object, the process is altogether dif- 
ferent from that required in mere reproduction. In 
the latter case, the factor of the third dimension is 
eliminated. The copy is presented in a plane ; and of 
course the reproduction must be executed in a plane. 
Moreover, in simple reproduction the pupil takes 
account of lines only, and in his own execution he 
attempts to construct lines exactly like those in his 
copy. But when he views a real object, he never 
sees lines, for these are mental constructions which 
are employed to suggest the object. In the real ob- 
ject, if it be at all complex, there is presented a vast 
number of details which must be overlooked, and 
only those characters represented which will be suf- 
ficient to distinguish the object, and enable the one 
who views the representation to interpret its per- 
sonality, as it v/ere, and its meaning. 

Thus while in reproduction the process is not one 
of selection of aspects, but one of mere repetition of 
whatever is seen, and also while there is no transfer- 
ence from real appearance to suggestion in line and 
color in actual representation, these are just the es- 
sential processes in representation. A representation 
is in every respect different from the reality it por- 
trays, but still it must suggest the reality. This indi- 
cates the psychological process involved in the indi- 
vidual's learning to represent realities. He must dis- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 227 

cover what qualities and relations of lines, shades, 
and colors will suggest real characteristics to one 
who views his handiwork. A representation is a 
creation in the sense that it is never a mere photo- 
graph of a reality; it is a translation of real appear- 
ances into suggestive characters. 

The point is that experience in reproduction alone 
gives little or no training in this process of trans- 
lating realities into representative forms. It does not 
enable the individual to discover how he can employ 
his lines and his colors to portray realities. More- 
over, in simple reproduction the eye can easily fol- 
low a line point by point until an entire figure is ex- 
ploited. But in viewing a dog, for instance, the eye 
of the novice is unable to trace it point by point ; but 
rather the complex thing as a whole tends to domi- 
nate his vision and attention, though some one strik- 
ing trait may be focal in consciousness. But the 
representation of this trait alone would in no sense 
be a representation of the object itself. In follow- 
ing a copy there is usually no particular phase of it 
which arrests the attention, as there is likely to be 
in respect to the real object. A mere outline is con- 
ventional, so that striking individual characteristics 
are usually eliminated. But in natural objects it is 
these individual impressive traits that are likely to 
monopolize attention. This is without doubt the 



228 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

most effective arrangement for purposes of percep- 
tion and adjustment to these objects, but not for 
representing them; and herein is found the funda- 
mental difficulty in drawing, which must determine 
the method of teaching. Dwelling upon the mere 
technique of drawing can not develop efficiency in 
representation. One may be able to execute beauti- 
ful lines, but not be able to employ his skill in por- 
traying objects, for the reason that he has acquired 
his skill as a thing in itself apart from its use in 
representation. What is needed in the teaching of 
this subject is to develop skill through actual em- 
plo3mient of it in the way in which it will be re- 
quired to meet the real needs of daily life. That is 
to say, the pupil should have experience in drawing, 
and not be confined to drill upon the mechanics 
thereof. 

Finally, we may consider for a moment how the 
principles concerning the development of automatic 
Automatic facil- facility in execution apply to a 
ity in arithmetic study like arithmetic. Arithme- 
tic, more than any other subject, except writing and 
spelling, perhaps, should be taught with a view to 
making many of its processes automatic. In the 
teaching of history there are very few topics that 
need to be learned so that they will become mechan- 
ical. Most of history should appeal to reason and 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 229 

appreciation, and it should not be reduced to auto- 
matic facility. This is equally true of most of what 
is taught in literature, geography, nature study, 
geometry, and the like. But the greater part of 
arithmetic will be of genuine value to the individual 
only as it can be used without any conscious effort 
or direction. Again, one who must "think" how he 
should spell a familiar word has not been well 
trained in spelling. The same is true of writing; 
and it is just as true of most of what will be used in 
arithmetic. However, many teachers regard the lat- 
ter subject as one appealing to reason, and they teach 
it with a view to training reason rather than to ac- 
quiring facile habits. But a pupil who is left to "rea- 
son out" the product of two numbers when they are 
to be multiplied, or the sum when they are to be 
added, or the remainder when they are to be sub- 
tracted, or the quotient when they are to be divided, 
is not properly prepared in arithmetic for every-day 
needs. In the same way, an adult who must "reason 
out" the application of most of the tables to the 
practical situations of life has not been well trained. 
Take two children who are sent on a shopping 
errand. They must go to a grocery, purchase certain 
articles, and pay for them. One calculates auto- 
matically the amount to be paid. He does not have 
to go through a conscious and therefore more or less 



230 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

laborious process of comparing the numbers in- 
volved. He has so often seen certain figures together 
with their sum or product or quotient or remainder 
that now the moment he beholds them in any given 
relation the inevitable result appears instantly in his 
mind. To illustrate the principle : an adult,when he 
sees two and two together in the relation of addition, 
immediately sees four. He does not have to go 
through the process of building up from two to the 
amount of two more. He automatically associates 
4 with 2 ■\- 2. In the same way, any properly 
trained adult who sees eight and four in the relation 
of multiplication instantly thinks of thirty-two. It 
is not necessary that he should count up four eights 
to see how many they make in total. But some teach- 
ers who endeavor to make these elementary proc- 
esses automatic with their pupils, never attempt to 
do the same in dealing with more complicated rela- 
tions. The second boy mentioned above suffers from 
this latter kind of training. He must take time to 
work consciously through all his processes ; he must 
"reason out" everything he does. Which boy is bet- 
ter trained in the use of numbers? What has the 
second boy gained from his reasoning process that 
the first boy has missed? The first one jumps over 
a number of steps which the second must take 
slowly. There is no more value in taking these short 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 231 

steps in arithmetical work than there would be in 
walking. One person might take a six-inch step 
while another could step three feet, covering all the 
intermediate points in one stride. 

Of course when a pupil first performs any new 
process it is necessary that he should see the reason 
B.elation of reason- why it must be done in a cer- 
ing to automatic fa- tain way. This is important so 
cility in aritlimetic that in the future if need be he 
can work his way through problems somewhat like 
this, but the solution of which he has not made au- 
tomatic. However, in all arithmetical processes 
which will need to be repeated often in practical life, 
the plan should be to make them so facile that the 
pupil can execute them without hesitation, or even 
without consciousness of the detailed steps involved; 
and this can be accomplished only by causing him to 
repeat the application of a principle until he gets be- 
yond the point of having to think it through, in the 
sense that he will not wonder what he should do, 
and his mind will not run here and there, because it 
has learned to proceed in a certain definite direction. 

Much of what teachers call reasoning in arith- 
metic is nothing but the mind of the novice wander- 
ing into by-paths because he has not learned which 
path will lead to the goal he wishes to reach. In the 
affairs of daily life, the expert can go straight to 



22,2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the mark, while the novice must try this route and 
that one, because he does not know which is the 
proper one. There is no advantage in the develop- 
ment of the mind for the novice to keep trying 
wrong routes, and having to return when he has dis- 
covered his errors. Many people are left in some 
such a condition in respect to many of the adjust- 
ments of daily life. They wander here and there 
because they have not learned how to decide at once 
which course to pursue, and so they proceed slowly, 
and are always making errors. The expert in any 
field, who has made many processes automatic, 
rarely makes errors, and he gets forward rapidly; 
while the beginner never knows when he is right, 
and he is apt to be halting and indecisive in all he 
does. 

In the teaching of arithmetic, it is the common 
failing of teachers to leave principles hanging in the 
Applying principles air, so that every time a pupil 
until their right has occasion to use them he 

application becomes ^i^st try various routes before 

"second nature" -, ■, i u 

he happens more or less by ac- 
cident upon the right one. But the wise teacher, 
whenever any principle is developed, will have the 
pupil apply it in so many ways that he will get a 
secure feeling for the way in which the thing is to 
be done. It v/ill become "second nature" to him. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 233 

This means that he must be presented with a great 
variety of concrete situations in which any principle 
is to be applied; and the more skilful the teacher is 
in making interesting and practical problems in- 
volving the application of principles, the greater suc- 
cess she will have in making her teaching secure in 
the pupil's life. Take, for instance, the process of 
computing areas. When this principle is being con- 
sidered, the good teacher will have her pupils deter- 
mine the areas of so many surfaces in the school- 
room and outside that a habit of proceeding in a 
certain definite way when area is to be determined 
will become thoroughly fixed. But if only a few 
book problems are solved one week this year, say, 
and then a few more solved next year, there never 
can be developed automatic facility in handling these 
problems. The principle applies to the teaching of 
all processes in arithmetic. 

Many teachers think there is some extraordinary 
value in having pupils "analyze" every problem they 
Danger of over- solve. Often one sees a pupil 
emphasizing who can grasp the relations pre- 

analysis sented at once, and reach the solu- 

tion without delay ; but when he comes to state what 
he has done according to the formula insisted upon 
by the teacher, he may be slow and incompetent. 
The writer knows a pupil who is marked very low in 



234 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

his analysis because he stumbles and halts, and can 
not choose the right terms when he attempts to go 
through with the form given him by the teacher. He 
can explain in his own way so that it will be clear 
to any one; but his mind seems to resist the par- 
ticular formula which the teacher wants him to use. 
He can work very rapidly through any problem pre- 
sented to him, and he is quite accurate; but his 
teacher thinks the matter of supreme importance is 
that he should follow her form in explaining what 
he does. She attaches more importance to his 
analysis according to the formal pattern in use, than 
to his being able to reach the right results rapidly 
and without error. 

Analysis has its place when the pupil is beginning 
to solve anything which brings in new relations or 
new processes, but it is of value only because it re- 
quires him to grasp these relations in the right way. 
The moment he can do this he ought to abandon his 
analysis, and cultivate speed and facility. He ought 
not to be at all conscious of any formula; and if he 
be kept upon analysis it will simply hinder him in his 
development. That pupil who can eliminate the 
greatest amount in his arithmetical work, provided 
he reaches the right results, is the one who has 
gained most from his training. What we must 
strive after in our arithmetical work are accuracy 



TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 235 

and speed, with all unnecessary processes eliminated. 
If a child can regularly solve a problem involving 
any sort of arithmetical relations he should not be 
asked to analyze it; the fact that he can solve it is 
sufficient evidence that he has grasped those rela- 
tions. Much less should he be required to analyze ac- 
cording to a special form of v^hich the teacher ap- 
proves. We are coming to appreciate in education 
that there is no value in doing things in a formal, 
elaborate way just for the sake of being complete 
and explicit. We must eliminate every place we can ; 
and in no work is this more essential than in arith- 
metic. 



CHAPTER VIII 

TEACHING THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 

Observe a child six months old when he is just 
beginning to make connections between words and 
How the child the things or experiences they 

gets at the mean- symbolize. If you notice care- 
ing of words f^Hy y^^ ^^ ^^^ ^|^^^ jj^ ^^^^ ^^_ 

ginning he gets his cue as to meaning from the 
facial and bodily expression of the one who is speak- 
ing, and also from the tone and timbre of the voice. 
Words at first denote emiotional states to the child ; 
and emotions can be deciphered by means of the 
vocal and bodily expressions of the speaker more 
easily and accurately than by means of pure symbols. 
This is probably true in the case of adults, as it 
certainly is true in respect to the child, and to some 
animals, as the dog and the horse. But, unlike the 
dog and the horse, the child, if he develops normally, 
can associate words as formal, conventional symbols 
with definite objects and phenomena and abstrac- 
tions. 

27,6 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 237 

The first thing that strikes one as he studies the 
babe getting at our meanings for verbal symbols is 
the latter's lack of precise discrimination as to what 
is denoted by the words we employ. Let us suppose 
he is looking out of the window, apparently at the 
sky, and I say, *'sky, sky", and I point at the object, 
look up at it, and try to get him to look where I do. 
This is the way people usually proceed with the 
babe; and they do this because they think he will 
connect the things he sees with what he hears, and 
will thus bind together the word and the object 
designated. This seems to be good logic; but the 
trouble is with the premises. It is assumed that the 
child sees what the speaker does; and this assump- 
tion amounts ordinarily to a stupendous error. The 
child does not differentiate the sky proper, as I 
regard it, from everything else within the range of 
his vision. If there are clouds in view, these are in- 
cluded; if there be smoke floating in the air, this 
may occupy a more important place in his attention 
than the ethereal blue I wish him to direct his vision 
upon. If there be a tree or a house in the picture, 
the chances are that these will stand out much more 
distinctly than the sky. 

When I ask him next day, "Where is the sky?" 
and he points to the chimney of the house opposite, I 



238 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The chief distinction am amazed, since I took so 
between the child and gj-eat pains to teach him the 
the adult in attending ^j^ ^^ ^.^^.^^^ ^^^^ ^.^.^^^ 

to objects or situations , . ^^ , ., 

thmgs. He must be stupid. 

From the standpoint of the adult's ability to differ- 
entiate in attention specific objects or qualities from 
a general whole, the babe is stupid, for he can not do 
it. If he could do this he would be mature; for 
really that is the chief characteristic of maturity as 
distinguished from immaturity. The principle ap- 
plies to some extent, of course, to the five- and ten- 
and fifteen-year-old, as compared with the fully 
matured adult. 

How often one sees a teacher directing a child's 
attention to a new situation, pointing out som.e 
special phase of it which she appreciates, the while 
expecting the novice to see it as she does. Then the 
next day, when the learner shows that he is con- 
fused, that he did not make the discrimination ex- 
pected of him, the teacher may be impatient, and she 
may hold up the unfortunate pupil before the school 
as a dunce or a goose. The chief error in most of 
our teaching is that we do not skilfully isolate just 
the thing we want attended to, and then employ such 
effective methods that the learner's attention can not 
go astray. It is a simple psychological law that 
attention always tends to follow the lines of least 



THE ARTS OF COIMMUNICATION 239 

resistance, which are the lines that have previously 
been followed ; so thct we have literally to coerce it 
to make new differentiations. I do not mean that 
we should attempt to coerce it by dermal excitations. 
Stimuli of this sort will disperse the attention, in- 
stead of focus it on a point, which is what we try to 
do in every possible teaching- situation. If one 
knows how to attract (not drive) the attention of 
his pupils to the particular new point he wishes them 
to learn, he can teach. Otherwise he will be more or 
less of a failure in the business. 

Now, suppose my year-old child has gained the 
idea of a chimney associated with the word ''sky" ; 
how can he be led to correct the error? Certainly 
not by repeating to-morrow the same thing he did 
to-day. No ; I must get him to indicate his notion 
of the meaning of the word, and let him go through 
all the possible notions he might have accidentally 
formed ; and then I must in every way I know how 
make it clear to him that it is not the chimney, or 
roof, or clouds, but the particular thing which people 
have in mind when they use the word. I must get 
him to employ the word or react upon my use of it, 
and he can tell from my expressions when he is cor- 
rect. I can never be sure what a learner has in the 
focus of his attention when I am teaching him a 
word until he reacts upon it or uses it himself. This, 



240 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

I think, is a principle of universal validity in the 
teaching of language. Mere formal defining of a 
word may afford the teacher no opportunity to tell 
just what mental, content a novice has for it. 

Really, a child begins to learn words effectively 
only when he commences to use them, and notices 
When true how people react upon them. A little 
learning boy looking at a picture of a donkey 
begins ^^j^^j ^ soldier read underneath, *'Going 

home on his furlough", and he naturally associated 
"furlough" with this special sort of animal. But 
the moment he began using it he discovered from 
the way people took what he said that he must be 
wrong, and he was in a frame of mind to get at the 
true meaning. Those persons who live with children 
who express themselves spontaneously see the prin- 
ciple here in question illustrated constantly. If a 
child were never required to use language so as to 
produce definite reactions in those who listen to him, 
I doubt if he would learn the precise meanings of 
any but the most concrete terms relating to the 
objects he meets very frequently. Use is at once 
the test of understanding, and the motive for per- 
fecting the understanding of words. 

The words which the child first learns accurately 
are, of course, those which relate to the vital ex- 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 24.1 

periences of every-day life. These are always con- 
crete. They can be tested by the senses, and they 
can be clearly distinguished from one another. 
When he comes to terms that relate to things remote 
from every-day life, or to those of an abstract 
nature, or to broad conceptions or large generaliza- 
tions, he will have trouble. The best he can do in 
such cases is to make guesses at meanings, and try 
on the terms to see if they will work as he conceives 
them. Take a word like "virtue," for instance. It 
is a long time before the child can get the precise 
content of this term, if, indeed, it has a certain 
definite meaning for adults even. Try to define that 
term yourself; then ask six or eight of your friends 
to define it. Are there not differences in your notions ? 
This term did not formerly have the meaning which 
many persons give it to-day; and a hundred years 
from now it will probably not have the meaning it 
now has for most people. As the race develops, 
meanings of terms change constantly; they tend to 
become more and more general. At first they are 
always concrete ; and this seems to be the same with 
the child. Abstract meanings must grow slowly; 
and we must be content with approximations to the 
true meaning of abstract symbols on the part of the 
child. It is useless to try to get ten-year-old chil- 



242 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

dren, say, to learn by definition or any other way the 
precise meanings of general terms when first they 
meet them. 

This leads naturally to a consideration of the 
acquisition of meanings by the learning of defini- 
Acqnisition of tions. In going through many pro- 
meanings by grams of educational meetings re- 
the learning cently, I found this topic in a large 
of definitions ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^j^j^ .^ evidence 

to the effect that teachers have not yet found just 
what use should be made of the dictionary. Look- 
ing up the literature on the subject, one discovers 
that most writers have urged that the dictionary- 
be systematically employed in the school-room from 
the fourth grade on. "Teach children early to go 
to the dictionary for all words they do not under- 
stand," is the advice given by several writers. 
Others say, "Never tell a pupil anything he can find 
out by consulting the dictionary. He should as. 
soon as possible acquire the habit of learning the 
definitions of all strange terms." There are those 
who have little faith in the dictionary for pupils 
below the seventh or eighth grade, but they are in 
the minority apparently. The advocates of the 
dictionary seemingly have reason on their side; 
for how can a child gain the meaning of an unknown 
word except by learning its definition? And if he 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 243 

does memorize what the dictionary gives for any 
term, he can not fail to comprehend it, according to 
the views of many teachers evidently. 

But the fallacy of this latter argument will be 
apparent to any one who will take the trouble to 
examine the definitions which children in the fourth 
grade, say, learn from the dictionaries in common 
use. I have made a collection of the dictionaries 
sold to children in the grades in different sections of 
the country, and they are much alike in fundamental 
characteristics, though they differ in size, type, and 
the like. But most of them follow the same method 
in defining words. They aim to be brief, for the 
sake of compactness, and so they give a few syn- 
onyms, without concrete examples showing the 
usage of any word in its ordinary contextual rela- 
tions. There lies before me a much-used common- 
school dictionary, which is a good illustration of 
the principle in question. Opening it at random, I 
chance first upon this word: ''typical; having the 
nature of or constituting a type. Figuratively rep- 
resentative ; emblematic; symbolical." Now I stop 
long enough to search out a sixth-grade boy, and I 
ask him to learn this definition. When he has "mas- 
tered" it, I have him "recite" it. Then I proceed to 
have him exhibit what sort of an understanding he 
has of It. I ask him to give me an example of some- 



244 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

thing that is figuratively representative ; also some- 
thing that is emblematic or symbolical. The result 
need not be described to any observant teacher. The 
boy is utterly at sea in respect to these terms ; and he 
is no better off as to the phrase, having the nature of 
or constituting a type. The dictionary gives no 
illustration of the use of typical or of any of the 
synonyms used to define it; in consequence of which 
not a ray of light has entered the learner's mind. 

Turning over the pages of this dictionary, I find 
that practically all of the words are defined accord- 
Fundamental ing to the method indicated in the 
defects in instance cited. One could not easily 

dictionary devise a more wasteful and less efii- 

definitions ^^^^^ method. And the smaller the 

dictionary the more blunders it makes, for it elimi- 
nates all concreteness, and leaves only incompre- 
hensible terms, so far as the novice is concerned. 
The man who made this dictionary had one aim in 
view, — to ''boil down" the definitions so that they 
could be presented in brief space, and easily learned 
by the pupil! Think of it; making definitions easy 
by shortening them! This dictionary maker must 
have been a mathematician and a financier; he cer- 
tainly was not a psychologist or a teacher, or he 
would have known that the more condensed he made 
his definitions, the greater the likelihood that they 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 245 

would be meaningless to the learner. If he had 
understood his business he would have endeavored 
to define his words mainly by presenting familiar 
examples of their uses. A child who has never seen 
a horse, say, or heard of one, could not gain an 
understanding of him by memorizing a definition 
presenting the general traits of a horse. 

The babe gets the meaning of any term by noting 
all the expressions of those who use it, and by taking 
account of all the circumstances under which it is 
used. In this way he comes to feel its significance. 
He could never sit down in a chair, and acquire 
meanings by learning definitions "by heart." Slowly 
he comes to see what is denoted by any term used 
in his presence through observing the relations be- 
tween it and environing events, objects, or condi- 
tions. He could not possibly learn any word if it 
were abstracted from everything concrete. Nor can 
a pupil in the high school learn words in any other 
way than by observing how they are used in a great 
variety of situations, thus gradually coming to feel 
what they mean because of their contextual rela- 
tions. The contextual relations of words, not 
formal dictionary definitions, give a pupil his cue 
to their meanings. The pupil who reads the most 
will, other things being equal, be the one who will 
acquire the meaning of words most readily and ac- 



246 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

curately. Conversely, one who reads little can not 
acquire a wide range of meanings, no matter how 
much he studies the dictionary. He would get on 
best, however, if he should study some of the large 
dictionaries which go into detail in giving illustra- 
tions of the uses of words. 

So a teacher must rely upon her regular work 
rather than upon the dictionary in helping pupils to 
Words must be get the meaning of words. Of 
learned in their course, as the pupil grows into the 
contextual higher grades and the high school, 

relations ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ dictionary to better 

and better advantage ; but even here too much faith 
must not be placed in it. The aim must be always 
to see how words are used in their usual connections 
rather than in isolation. Words really have mean- 
ing only as they are employed with other words in 
the expression of thought. We should serve our 
pupils best if we would have them spend in reading 
much of the time consumed in hunting up words in 
the dictionary. We must hold them for the sub- 
stance of what they have read, and the meaning of 
special phrases, perhaps, though we need not be too 
precise with young children. They must first get 
glimpses before they can see the details in their pre- 
cise relations. In the past, we have been anxious 
to have children learn formal definitions for all new 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 247 

words met in their reading. It is better that the sig- 
nificance of many words should be felt only. If one 
tries to give definitions for some words he really 
understands fairly well he will be formal merely, 
and fail to present the really vital elements. 

The writer has observed the work of a teacher 
who is a dictionary "fiend". She requires her sixth- 
grade pupils to write out ten words each day, giving 
all the diacritical markings, and the formal diction- 
ary definitions. It consumes much time and energy 
to do this work, and the results are of very doubt- 
ful value. Testing the pupils, one finds that all they 
do is largely mechanical. They merely copy the 
definitions, and often they can not even pronounce 
the terms used to define other terms. How much 
more profitable it would be if they should devote 
more of their time to reading within their range of 
comprehension, and getting at the meanings in this 
way. 

Even when a dictionary makes an efifort to be 
'"simple" in its condensed definitions, it is likely to 
be ineffective, or to lead the learner astray. Caroline 
Le Row gives some samples of definitions written 
by pupils, which may illustrate the point. Take 
bivalve, for Instance; the pupil gains from the dic- 
tionary the Impression that it has reference to fold- 
ing doors. Then he applies it as follows: "Our 



248 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

parlor is a bivalve, because it has folding doors." 
So with austere; the pupil catches the meaning 
sour, and he interprets it as revealed in the phrase, 
*'My mother makes flapjacks of austere milk." Note 
the following : Monopoly, ''Our grocer is a monop- 
oly because he keeps on a corner all alone ;" Cursory, 
"The boy was cursory when he ran to catch the 
train;" Ensued, "The dog ensued the man to the 
brook;" Exhilarated, "The man was exhilarated to 
a better place." Examples might be multiplied to 
any length, showing that the learner can not, as a 
general principle, gain a correct appreciation from a 
dictionary definition alone of any term which is 
strange to him. Hence the rule: Always strive to 
have the pupil see how words are used in the typical 
relations in which they are found in sentences. 

Let us turn now to a consideration of the teach- 
ing of language as a means of communication. Any 
The social one who has observed a child during the 
basis for first three months of his life must have 
language ht^n impressed with his taciturnity. In 

^*^i^5 i^is instinctive way, he gives expression 
to his fundamental needs; but he does not manifest a 
desire to communicate with those about him. He 
stares in a wondering manner at the objects sur- 
rounding him, but he makes no effort to get into 
eommunion with them. At about the third month, 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 249. 

however, he shows clearly that he is beginning to 
reciprocate his mother's expressions. She "coos" 
and "crows" over him, and he makes a feeble effort 
to return her salutations. Nothing but the presence 
of the mother, or perhaps the father or brother or 
sister, will call forth these efforts. It is apparent 
now that the child is really commencing to feel the 
desire for communion with people, and this is the 
very first step in the development of language 
proper. During the following months all of his 
linguistic activity has relation to persons with whom 
he desires to communicate. In time he may seek to 
share his experiences with his dog and all his pets ; 
but the motive in every case for expression is the 
desire to communicate or share experience. 

Language is first, last, and always a social instru- 
ment. It is the means par excellence of sharing ex- 
perience, which is the most significant impulse in 
child life. All through the early years, while the 
child is mastering the technique of linguistic ex- 
pression, he has as a constant stimulus the need to 
reveal his thoughts, feelings, and desires. It is from 
the beginning to the end a severe struggle to acquire 
a language ; and the child would escape it if he were 
not strongly urged by stern necessity to acquire it 
for purposes of social intercourse. Children who 
are brought up alone never master a language as 



250 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

readily and effectively as those who have vital rela- 
tions with others, and who, in order to get on hap- 
pily with people, must become master of the means 
of expression that will go to the mark most directly. 

When the child enters school he still possesses his 
original interest in language as a means of com- 
munication. He will not hesitate to attack any 
linguistic difficulty, if he realizes that by overcoming 
it he can express himself more effectively in the ordi- 
nary situations in which he may be placed. Outside 
of school one may often listen to children practising 
new words and phrases by the hour, because they 
hear them used by persons in whom they are inter- 
ested, and with whom they are anxious to communi- 
cate more effectively than they otherwise could. 
On the other hand, I have never heard a child en- 
deavoring to master the expressions of a person in 
whom he has no interest. Observe children in 
groups who are using language spontaneously, and 
you will see illustrated the fundamental motive for 
learning it in any form — the need of communion 
zvith comrades and associates. 

If in the school-room we could always make our 
pupils feel that by mastering any special forms of 
expression, oral or written, they could thereby com- 
municate more precisely with the people in whom 
they are interested, they would attack these forms 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 251 

with readiness, and master them with comparatively 
little difficulty. The writer is now observing a 
group of children who have become enthusiastic over 
the notion of publishing a "newspaper". Each mem- 
ber of the group must write something every day for 
the journal. These children will go to any one who 
will help them, and ask how they should express this 
or that thought, what words they had best choose 
for any given expression, and so on. They are just 
in the attitude in which they can learn to express 
themselves in writing most economically and effect- 
ively. As a matter of fact, these children are 
making progress eveiy day in linguistic development 
as a result of their journalistic enterprise, while they 
are entirely unconscious of any set purpose to learn. 
If we could devise means in the school-room which 
would stimulate a desire for expression, such as 
these children now have, we should be pursuing the 
natural course in promoting linguistic development. 
The chief difficulty in linguistic teaching in most 
schools is that there is no real motive for acquiring 
The motive for new and effective modes of ex- 
acquiring the art pression. Ask a child to talk for 
of expression ^-^^ j^^j.^ formal purpose of im- 

proving his speech, when there is no clear gain, so 
far as he can see, in communication with his fellows, 
and he will make little headway. Often the subjects 



252 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

which are set in written exercises seem to the child 
remote from his daily needs, and he is constantly in 
a hostile attitude toward the work. And when a 
pupil is trying to avoid a task, he is in an attitude 
which makes learning wasteful and ineffective. The 
teacher who can in all her linguistic training place 
her pupils in situations closely resembling those of 
daily life, and who can, further, make them feel the 
need of constantly mastering improved means of 
expression, will be likely to succeed in her efforts, 
where otherwise she would become discouraged. 

During the early years, when the child is follow- 
ing out nature's plan in his linguistic development, 
he always plays a great deal with his vocalizations. 
Even when he is alone you will hear him constantly 
babbling, and running over all his words and ex- 
pressions in a variety of combinations. It is evi- 
dently the plan of nature in this activity that he 
should practise linguistic gymnastics for the serious 
needs of later life. Regular set speech will in time 
grow out of this spontaneous playing with- the 
language. The child who never plays linguistically 
is not apt to gain an effective mastery of this means 
of communication. In any home where an effort 
is made to prevent this linguistic play, the children 
show the results in lack of ease and facility in the 
employment of language. The requirements for 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 253 

effective use of speech, or writing either, in maturity- 
necessitate a great wealth of spontaneity in the early 
years. 

There is a suggestion here for the teacher of 
language. The writer has in mind a young school- 
A suggestion master who has become possessed of 
for the teacher the notion in s^ome way that he 
of language should require his pupils to use set, 
formal phrases in all their expression. He believes 
that if he should indulge children's love of sponta- 
neity at all, their speech would become corrupted. 
He insists, when a pupil is called upon to express 
himself, that he should first be sure of just the 
formal words he ought to use, and then use these, 
and no others. When the child has spoken his 
formal sentence, he must cease talking and be seated. 
This schoolmaster is very hard on those pupils who 
rush ahead to express themselves, and then back 
up to make corrections and try different words and 
phrases. He aims to exclude from the school-room 
all expressions, terms and phrases peculiar to the 
life outside. Every day he gives his pupils examples 
of "good English", which is always book English, 
got out of the grammar or rhetoric. He will not 
tolerate anything else in his school. He attempts tO' 
suppress the spontaneous expression of his pupils so 
that they will employ only "pure diction". 



254 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

This young man is the victim of an unsound 
educational philosophy. He maintains that what is 
"best" should always be placed before children and 
required of them; and what is "best" is that which 
the adult regards most highly, or which has become 
conventionalized in books. However it may be in 
reference to other matters, it is certainly an error 
to maintain that formal, stereotyped modes of ex- 
pression should be required of children in order 
to make them efficient in expression. In the school- 
room of this teacher, one rarely hears genuinely 
effective expression from pupils. They do not ex- 
press themselves ; they try to remember stilted 
phraseology, which they will cast to the winds the 
moment they get outside the school-room door. 

To the teacher of young pupils: encourage chil- 
dren to express their thoughts readily, vividly and 
forcefully, and make suggestions at the psychologi- 
cal moment regarding more appropriate words, 
terms and forms than those employed; but do not 
unduly inhibit the child in his spontaneity. It is 
better to encourage freedom and adventure in ex- 
pression, even at the risk of occasional errors and 
vulgarisms, than to stifle spontaneity by insistence 
upon formal expression. The children who grow 
linguistically are those who talk readily and dar- 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 255. 

ingly, even though they trip and fall at times. This 
is nature's method in all development. 

Doubtless some readers are now asking : Shall we 
tolerate unconventional speech, even slang, in our 
Unconventional school-rooms ? As a test, let us see ; 
language is the expression, "It's up to you", 

slang? Recently I asked this question of a group 
of two hundred upper-class students in a university 
in the Middle West. Something like two-thirds of 
them voted, on the spur of the moment, that it was 
not slang, while the others either thought it was, or 
were undecided about it. I asked those who de- 
clared it was a conventional phrase whether they 
would feel quite at ease in using it anywhere and 
on all occasions, if it would serve their purpose 
effectively. The majority of them believed they 
would have no greater hesitation in any situation 
in employing this than any other expression in cur- 
rent use. It had become so familiar to them, and it 
slipped off their tongues so handily, that it did not 
appear to be in any respect peculiar or exceptional, 
or not in good repute among respectable persons. 
They could not understand how it could be offensive 
to any one who should hear it, or how in using it 
they would be doing violence to the proprieties of 
life. 



256 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Some of the students said they were in the habit 
of using this expression in the give-and-take of con- 
versation with their associates, but they always "cut 
it out" in the class-room. They thought it was very 
well adapted to informal and rather intimate inter- 
course among friends and comrades, but it was not 
altogether proper in more formal and conventional 
situations. Why this should be so, they could not 
explain fully; they simply felt the force of it. 

It seemed clear that these latter persons were in a 
transitional stage with regard to the employment of 
this unconventional phrase, if we may so character- 
ize it here. When they first heard it, they con- 
sidered it to be slang ; but as their ears became more 
accustomed to it, it began slowly to lose its strange 
and disreputable character. In due course they 
ventured shyly to try it on occasionally in their own 
expressions, when no one was looking, as it were. 
Seeing that it worked well, and that no tragedy re- 
sulted therefrom to themselves or to others, it 
gradually became established in their informal inter- 
course as a serviceable and dynamic phrase. But on 
account of their uncomfortable feeling when they 
disregard the conventional requirements of speech, 
they have not yet reached the point where they can 
employ much of their every-day language in the 
more impressive situations of life. They change 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 257 

their speech as they change their clothes, when they 
attend the president's reception or go to take tea at 
the woman's club. Other people are less appre- 
hensive about the evil results of taking a little liberty 
with precedents, in speech as in other matters, so 
they give rather free rein to their tongues whenever 
they are incited to communicate on any topic or on 
any occasion. 

If I should ask of a group of men and women in 
a drawing-room in Brookline, Massachusetts, the 
What is objectionable question which I put to stu- 
in one section may be dents in the university above 
acceptable in another referred to, nine out of ten 
of them would say the phrase mentioned is slang, 
and ought not to be used by cultured persons. But if 
I should put the same question to a drawing-room 
group in Chicago, or Cincinnati, or Oakland, or 
Seattle, or Butte, or Iron wood, the majority would 
say the expression is entirely acceptable, that it is 
picturesque and effective, and that it ought to be 
freely employed, even in formal intercourse, when 
an opening for it occurs in conversation. If again 
I put the question to a group of business men any- 
where west of the Ohio River, practically every one 
of them will say the expression may be used with 
propriety on all occasions. Once more, if I should 
ask the professors at Oxford, England, whether "it's 



258 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

up to you" is good English, they would probably 
condemn it as a vulgarism. But if I should go to 
Eton or Rugby and publish it, the young fellows 
there would be glad to hear it, and they would seize 
upon it as a welcome addition to their dynamic 
vocabulary. As a matter of fact, there is a special 
lexicon of original terms and expressions published 
at Eton, so that visitors may^ be aided in getting 
some sort of a line on the language used by the boys. 
I have tested students, as well as laymen of 
varied interests and training, on other expressions 
Specimen phrases which are regarded by some as 
trying to acquire slang, and by others as conven- 
respectability tional speech. I have received 

various expressions of opinion regarding the re- 
spectability of such words and phrases as the fol- 
lowing: "Stunt"; "Dope"; "She's a peach"; 
"Scratch gravel"; "It cuts no ice"; "He's off his 
base"; "He went up in the air"; "He's a shark"; 
"He's a dandy"; "His nose is out of joint"; "He's 
up against it"; "He's got up on his ear"; "He's 
barking up the wrong tree"; "He's a tightwad"; 
"Straight goods"; "Half-baked"; "He's a sore- 
head"; "At rock-bottom price"; "Wide open with 
the lid off" ; "Pass in your checks" ; "I will not take 
any back talk" ; "Don't monkey with the buzz-saw" ; 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 259. 

''Forget it"; ''He didn't do a thing to him"; "He 
flew off the handle"; "Chew the rag"; "Tender- 
foot"; Head him off"; "I have been through the 
mill" ; "He must face the music" ; "He can deliver 
the goods" ; "He always eats a square meal" ; "He's 
off his feed" ; "He's a lobster" ; "I wish you would 
put me next"; "He has taken to the tall timber"; 
"Wouldn't that jar you"; "Paint the town red"; 
"We had a swell time"; "Nothing doing"; and so 
on ad libitum. Many persons say that these phrases 
are all pungent and pregnant with meaning; while 
others say they are inelegant, grotesque, or even low 
and coarse. Among those who take the latter view 
are some who might be called "cultured" ; but there 
are also those whose range of knowledge and ex- 
perience is extremely limited, but who affect literary 
appreciation and ability. 

There are some expressions in current use in 
many sections of the country which seem to be pure 
slang to every one I have questioned about the 
matter. For instance, "Fade away" appears to all 
people as still without the bounds of proper, con- 
ventional speech. The same is true of "Cut it out" ; 
"Skiddoo" ; "His trolley is off" ; "He's pretty well 
teed up" ; "He has a jag on" ; "He has bubbles in his 
dream-box" ; "He thinks he is the chief squeeze", or 



26o EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

"the maiii guy"; "Cough up some chink"; "Ad- 
jective jerker"; "You are giving me hot air"; and 
the like. 

While most persons regard the sort of expressions 
mentioned in the latter group as slang, they often 
think it legitimate and even becoming to use them 
on appropriate occasions — in the give-and-take of 
their linguistic relations with one another. They 
feel conversation is more sprightly, interesting, and 
effective when it is pretty well sprinkled with these 
decidedly unconventional phrases. The very sound 
of them has a marked emotional value, which is 
pleasing to persons of an adventurous disposition, 
and rather eager for a wide range of experience, 
linguistic and otherwise. 

However, such expressions are rather too wild 
and unsettling for the typical adult, especially when 
Conservative people he has reached the sixth age. 
resist new styles in When one begins to get his 
speech as in manners get, alike in his muscles, in 
his brain cells, and in his ideas, 
his chief desire then is to prevent innovations in 
everything of vital interest to him — politics, re- 
ligion, society, dress, and speech, for he can not 
readily adapt himself to new modes of thinking or 
acting. Such a person will, of course, resist as vig- 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 261. 

orously as he can any departure from what he is 
pleased to call "the proprieties of speech". It may 
be added that some people get their set soon after 
they leave the teens. 

Teachers and ministers are in most communities 
expected to observe the conventions, and they are 
likely to feel the necessity of resisting any liberties 
being taken with the precedents in respect to speech, 
as to everything else. But teachers and ministers 
are much less conventional than they were twenty- 
five years ago, a fact revealed in freedom in dress 
and conduct, as in speech. So that now in many 
places one may hear them employ on occasion such 
expressions as "We'll all chip in" ; "He has a screw 
loose" ; "One ought not to be a knocker" ; "He was 
given the cold shoulder"; "He was put in the 
cooler" ; "He made good" ; "He got balled up", and 
so on. Custom has compelled women to be more 
circumspect than men about their speech, and they 
tend often to resist any new styles in expression. 
However, this is not quite the case as it applies to 
university women students, who conform less will- 
ingly and fully to the conventions of life than their 
sisters out in the world. 

From my window I look out across a lake, and 
there come to my mind a number of expressions 



262 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The unconventional originally referring to the phe- 
speech of to-day nomena to be observed thereon. 

.' t 1 In an earlier day these were de- 

conventional speech. . , „ . 

of to-morrow cidedly unconventional, though 

they are now regarded as en- 
tirely proper. No one thinks it would be bad form 
to employ under any circumstances such an expres- 
sion as "he will not be able to weather the storm," 
when reference is made to a man's contest with 
moral, intellectual, or business difficulties. So we 
can with perfect propriety tell a young fellow to 
"steer clear" of this or that moral danger. We can 
ask him whether he is "making headway" in his 
university work, or whether he is likely to "suffer 
shipwreck" in his undertakings. I can inquire 
whether he will be "on deck" in the morning; or I 
can say to the president of the university that I am 
glad he has decided "to take the helm, and guide the 
ship safely to port." 

Among virile, growing people every vital activity 
is likely to contribute some dynamic expressions to 
general speech. It is a simple principle in psychol- 
ogy that a plastic mind often discerns subtle rela- 
tions between things which apparently have no 
connection with one another. Especially when intel- 
lectual, moral, or abstract matters of any kind are 
being discussed, a resourceful mind is apt to discover 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 263 

illustrations in physical situations with which people 
are generally familiar. An effective speaker will then 
be constantly making use of conceptions brought 
over from life on the sea, or on the farm, or in the 
mountains, or on the crowded streets of the city, or 
in the forest, and so on, to vivify his description of 
abstruse situations. In order to use language with 
marked success, one must be able to call to his 
service a great variety of expressive terms that 
appeal to the every-day, stirring experience of indi- 
viduals. When the minister urges his flock to "hit 
straight from the shoulder" in dealing with their 
besetting sins, he is using slang, of course, but he is 
making his expression go to the mark. Now, take a 
person so conventionalized, if one could be found 
in the world, who would decline to use that expres- 
sion, because it was a vulgarism ; what effect would 
he have on the sinners in the pews in front of 
him. ? 

Militant experience, combat in real life, has fur- 
nished many effective phrases for the description of 
moral attitudes and situations. One hears it fre- 
quently said that a certain man has been ''overcome", 
or "conquered", or "knocked out" by drink. Again 
it is "nip and tuck" whether a man will succeed in 
his undertaking; or he will fight his moral enemies 
"tooth and nail". It is not right for a man to "show 



264 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the white feather"; also he ought always to "play 
fair". It is perfectly proper for a student to "wres- 
tle" with problems, or for men to "cross swords" 
with one another in debate. I might go on at any 
length in calling attention to expressions once slang, 
but now heard on the lips of the most "proper" per- 
sons, who have but slight conception of the origin 
and history of the words and phrases they imitate 
from "cultured" people. 

Should those who feel themselves charged with 
preserving the proprieties, and especially those who 
The attitude of are engaged in leading the 

the teacher toward young along safe paths, coun- 
the use of slang tenance the use of "racy" lan- 

guage? Let us agree that highly conventional per- 
sons ought not to use any expression that might 
seem to be slang. They should condemn it, as be- 
fits their nature and their interests. On their lips, 
much of the speech of buoyant youth would seem 
grotesque. One's language ought to be congment 
with the rest of his personality; it would jar on his 
associates if he should be unconventional in one re- 
spect, while a strict conformist in all other ways. 
But should such persons set standards for those who 
are of a venturesome disposition, and especially for 
the young, whom nature has designed to be plastic 
and original, ever searching after new styles and 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 265 

effects In every phase of life and conduct? Child- 
hood and youth were invented so that there might 
be a period in human life during which innovations 
of every sort could be introduced and tried out. 
But in carrying out this plan, violence is often done 
to custom and the proprieties, as viewed by the peo- 
ple who have ceased to be plastic. 

In youth the aim is always to be fresh and orig- 
inal. Of course, there is danger in plasticity. For 
one is as likely to go to the left as to the right 
when he moves, unless he be guided by some one 
who knows the safe route. But progress is always 
secured by taking risks. People who will not take 
any chances never go forward fast. Now, the best 
thing one can do for the young is to develop in them 
good taste, so that they will feel what is appropriate 
to be done in any situation. It surely is possible to 
establish in a youth a certain sensitiveness to pro- 
prieties in speech as in other matters, so that he 
will be keen to avoid offending people by what is 
said or done in their presence. In respect, then, to 
the use of unconventional language, of the sort indi- 
cated above, one who might be quite free in its use 
on a college campus or at his club, might be wary 
about employing it in a drawing-room or a school- 
room, or any other place where it would seem un- 
refined. In Butte or Seattle or Chicago he might 



266 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

realize that he would be regarded as strait-laced 
and dull, unless his conversation were quite well en- 
livened with these picturesque phrases, developed 
out of a vigorous, adventurous, exhilarating life, 
but not a life of vulgarity by any means. 

In America v/e ought to make contributions to the 
English language, in respect alike to its vocabulary 
and to its idioms. Especially ought we in this coun- 
try to give our speech a flavor characteristic of the 
peculiar nature of our thought, feeling, and con- 
duct. Often so-called "purists" who seek to pre- 
vent any changes whatever in our speech and writ- 
ing, do not appreciate what a language is or should 
be. Such people forget, or ignore the fact, that 
since the days of Chaucer we have gone a long 
distance in transforming the English language. The 
terms and phrases of Milton or Shakespeare com- 
ing from the tongues of people to-day would be re- 
garded as intolerable; and the forces which have 
been at work in modifying the language of these 
masters are far more active in these piping times 
than they have been heretofore, because life is surg- 
ing forward at a more tremendous rate. To put a 
check on linguistic plasticity and inventiveness 
would be folly, even if it were possible so to do, 
which it probably is not. 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 267 

So we must allow youth some linguistic swing, and 
age, too, if it can enjoy it, and indulge in it without 
danger to life or limb; but we must make our young 
people sensitive to the peculiar demands of their 
environments, so that they will adapt themselves 
thereto, not offending in speech any more than they 
offend in dress or in action, but still showing fresh- 
ness, originality, force in all their expressions. Again, 
we will not permit the use of mere unmeaning jar- 
gon, or grotesque and offensive terms, which are 
sometimes affected by persons merely to be different 
from others, and not because such terms are really 
dynamic and effective. Genuinely figurative language 
usually springs from a highly intellectual source; 
but jargon emanates from a low origin, and denotes 
rather an absence than a fullness of thought. Hence, 
we condemn the latter, while we indorse the former 
when employed in harmony with environing con- 
ditions. 

Our discussion leads on inevitably to a considera- 
tion of the larger aspects of the great problem of 
Naturalness training pupils to be effective in ex- 
in expression pression. The right use of proper 
language is but one phase, and possibly the least im- 
portant phase, of this matter, as we must be con- 
cerned with it in teaching. One phase of the gen- 



268 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

eral question is brought out clearly in the following 
letter from an observing teacher in the eighth grade 
of a city school. She writes : 

"The chief trouble I have with my children is to 
make them natural when they come to read or speak. 
On two Friday afternoons of every month we have 
general exercises, to which parents are invited. I 
always have some pupils recite selections ; but I have 
about decided to give up this practice, because the 
pupils are always so awkward and self-conscious. 
Are children so in all schools, or is there something 
the matter with my teaching? Is there any way to 
make pupils seem natural in what they do before 
others?" 

There are probably few teachers of children from 
the age of six or seven to the age of twenty who 
have not been distressed over the awkwardness of 
pupils when they have been required to perform in 
a public way. I have often asked myself the ques- 
tion, why children who are so spontaneous and un- 
concerned on the playground seem so embarrassed 
and confused when they appear before their class- 
mates, and especially before invited guests. Of 
course, we must recognize that all of us have prob- 
ably inherited a certain amount of timidity in the 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 269 

presence of a company of our fellows, when we are 
called upon to Instruct them or to entertain them. 
Probably the majority of people, even in adult life, 
are not quite natural when they are required to 
speak or sing or play in public. One who will ob- 
serve adults called upon to give a public address or 
even to speak at an informal meeting of a club will 
notice that they often show self -consciousness in 
eveiy expression — in face, body, voice, and gesture. 
Everything about them is likely to become more or 
less strained and tense. The consciousness of be- 
ing before persons who are studying us is apt to 
get into the muscles and into the nervous system of 
most of us. 

Can anything be done to keep pupils natural? 
Often one sees quite young children who are not 
markedly self-conscious when they read or speak 
before their fellows. Probably self -consciousness 
can be avoided by the employment of proper nieth- 
ods in the school-room. It has been my experience 
that in any school where the daily regimen encour- 
ages pupils to talk much to their fellows, they are 
not likely to become embarrassed and awkward 
when they are placed in more formal situations. 
On the other hand, if in all their reciting they are 
required to assume formal attitudes, and to talk in 
measured, formal sentences, they will hardly assume 



270 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

ease and naturalness on any occasion. If one asks 
a child to come forward from his seat, to square 
away before his classmates, and to recite in a more 
or less mechanical way sentences which he has 
learned by heart, he can not gain experience which 
will keep him natural. One can not maintain natur- 
alness in voice or facial expression unless his whole 
being assumes an easy, normal attitude. The reason 
people are self-conscious in any situation is because 
they do not feel at home in it. Under such circum- 
stances everything is apt to become strained in 
them; this is really what is meant by awkwardness 
and embarrassment. 

It is questionable whether speaking pieces on Fri- 
day afternoon helps much to overcome awkwardness 
and undue self -consciousness. It may possibly serve 
to develop these unhappy conditions. If a pupil is 
frightened every time he renders a selection, stage 
fright may become the habit of his life. If a teacher 
observes that a timid pupil does not gain greater 
confidence and ease as he goes on in his speaking, 
she might better excuse him altogether than to try 
to cultivate confidence in him. 

The very act of coming forward before a school 
to render a selection is a formality which tends to 
awaken feelings of timidity and constraint in many 
children. How would it do to have pupils speak 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 271 

single stanzas or paragraphs from their own seats, 
permitting them tO' be natural in their positions, 
though of course not slovenly or indifferent? In 
this way a number of children might be heard from 
frequently, and the experience would not be over- 
powering. With many repetitions of this experi- 
ence, ease would be likely to be cultivated. The per- 
formance would gradually lose its terror for many 
children, even if they have already become self-con- 
scious and fearful. This may be seen in any school- 
room where pupils recite freely while standing at 
their own seats. The present writer frequently ob- 
serves school-rooms in which children seem per- 
fectly natural in speaking to their classmates, be- 
cause they have experience in it nearly every day 
they are in school. They are permitted to speak in 
their own way for the most part, and are not unduly 
impressed with the necessity of being conventional 
and formal. 

In some of our schools formal lessons are given 
in the art of expression. Rules are learned, the pur- 
Concerning the teach- pose of which is to enable the 
ing of expression pupil to use his voice so as 

best to express his thought. In these schools, the 
teachers usually insist upon certain bodily attitudes 
being assumed by the children when they are read- 
ing. The directions commonly given are that the 



2^2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

reader must stand with his heels together, holding 
his book in his right hand, while his left hand should 
hang becomingly at his side. 

In one school of this sort, observations were re- 
cently made upon the way in which the teacher her- 
self read, and to what extent she observed the rules 
she was teaching. She was very insistent upon her 
pupils observing these rules; but she broke every 
one of them herself. She was reading a long poem 
to her grade, and hardly once during the whole 
process did she look at her pupils. She kept her eyes 
fastened on the book, and her whole expression in- 
dicated that she did not have her pupils in mind, 
with a view to impress upon them the thought and 
feeling contained in the poem. As a result, scarcely 
any of the pupils followed her entirely through the 
poem, and perhaps few of them were much influ- 
enced by it. It seemed to the observer to be more 
or less of a failure, mainly because the teacher had 
not delivered it effectively. 

Why is it that so many of us as teachers are in- 
effective before our classes? The majority of in- 
structors probably find it impossible to speak or to 
read to a class in a really effective way. At edu- 
cational conventions most teachers have to read 
papers upon topics which they should be able to dis- 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 273 

cuss freely. Often the authors of papers read them 
through from start to finish in a way which indi- 
cates that they do not have in mind persons to be 
entertained, or enlightened, or aroused to some new 
line of action. 

It is to be feared that the entire system of de- 
veloping expression in the schools needs vitalizing. 
Learning rules about good speaking or effective 
reading may be and probably is worse than useless. 
The rule-taught speaker or reader is apt to keep his 
rule in mind, and it may stand as an insuperable 
barrier between him and his audience. The only 
principles of expression that seem really to accom- 
plish much are those which are driven Into the pupil 
unconsciously through the response of his fellows 
to what he says or reads to them. The sole 
justification for any principle of expression is found 
in its suitability to make those who listen see clearly 
and react appropriately. This law should determine 
how the art of expression should be acquired. The 
candidate for a public career must from start to 
finish in his training be aware of persons who will 
listen to what he says and reads, and who must be 
helped to understand, to feel, and to enjoy what- 
ever he presents. 

The writer is familiar with a school in which there 



274 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

are two teachers who illustrate diametrically oppo- 
A typical instance site modes of treating this sub- 
of affectation in ject of expression. One teacher 
expression j^^g reduced the entire matter 

down to a rather elaborate system of principles and 
rules. Every year she receives a new class of pupils, 
and she complains constantly of their lack of train- 
ing in expression. So she puts them through their 
paces, and in this way she develops a certain degree 
of spectacular skill in handling the body and the 
voice in reading, and also in reciting. Nevertheless, 
she really injures the expression of her pupils as a 
whole. Many of them lose naturalness, force, and 
efficiency in their speaking and reading in her room. 
Her regime impresses one as being mechanically 
perfect, but lacking vitality. The pupils do not 
speak or read from the point of view of pleasing or 
influencing those who listen to them, but only with 
a view to observing the rules of the game. Outside 
of that room, they would hardly think of employing 
such high-flown and artificial vocal and bodily 
effects in their talk. They would be laughed at by 
their fellows if they did, simply because they would 
seem stilted, affected, unnatural. The teacher is 
herself unnatural in her school-room. She could not 
tell a story to her pupils so that they would be deeply 
interested in it for its own sake. They might keep 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 275 

good order, because they would be afraid to be mis- 
chievous in her presence, but they would not be 
greatly influenced by what she might say or read to 
them. Her voice, her face, her bodily attitudes all 
seem formal, and unsuited to the highest type of ex- 
pression, in which one individual seeks to impart to 
another something which will be of genuine interest 
to him. 

In the second school is a teacher who does not 
secure such striking dramatic performances from 
An instance of her pupils, and who does not im- 
naturalness in press casual visitors as forcefully 
expression ^g ^j^g jQi-gj- teacher; but she can tell 

a story to her school, and every one will be wrapped 
up in it. When she reads to her class, she uses her 
book more or less incidentally. She really talks 
when she reads, because she looks into the faces of 
her pupils, and her language seems to be more 
familiar and natural than that found in the book. 
She gives her pupils few, if any, rules of expression, 
which is a source of criticism by her associate across 
the hall ; but her pupils have, in the opinion of the 
present writer, better expressive ability than the 
children in the room mentioned above, because they 
are natural and unaffected. This teacher succeeds 
quite well in making her children feel the presence 
of their classmates, and this has an irre«istibl© in- 



2^6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

flitence upon a pupil's talking, and alsO' upon his 
reading. Doubtless more could be done along this 
line than the teacher in question is able to accom- 
plish ; but she is following the right method. After 
all, the test of effective expression is found in the 
reaction of those who listen, and not in the skilful 
execution of a system of free-hand gymnastics, 
without regard to the persons who are to be influ- 
enced thereby. 

In most good schools pupils are required to learn 
selections for recitation, and it is a matter of a s^ood 
Waste in learn- deal of importance to have this 
ing selections work accomplished in an econom- 
for recitation j^al and effective manner. But 
sometimes it is not done in this way, as the follow- 
ing instance shows. The pupils in the fourth grade 
of a certain school were required to learn for recita- 
tion The Landing of The Pilgrims. In assigning 
the task, the teacher stated simply that each pupil 
should be able within ten days to recite the selection 
without error. Nothing was said regarding the 
character of the selection as a whole, or of any of 
its parts. It seemed evident that what the teacher 
desired was that the pupils should fix in memory the 
several stanzas verbatim, whether or not they com- 
prehended what the content of any stanza was. 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 277 

The writer was much interested to observe how 
certain of the pupils to whom this task was assigned 
proceeded to their work. Here is the way one boy, 
rather above the average in brightness, went at it. 
He labored through the first stanza : 

"The breaking waves dashed high 
On a stern and rockbound coast, 
And the woods against a stormy sky 
Their giant branches tossed." 

His aim was to pronounce the words correctly. 
When he had gone through this stanza once, he went 
back and read over the first line two or three times. 
Then he closed his book, and endeavored to repeat 
it. This he did for a half-dozen or more times, be- 
fore he finally felt he had any particular line secure. 
Next he read over the following line, and repeated 
the process which he adopted in memorizing the 
first. So he worked his way through the four lines 
in the first stanza. Then he went back to see if he 
could say the lines as a whole. He discovered that 
he could not put them together when he first made 
the trial ; so he ran through the first line, and opened 
his book to see how the second line began. Then he 
recited the two lines together until he felt he had 
acquired them. So he went on down with the other 



278 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

lines, though after twenty-five minutes he was un- 
able to recite the stanza without any prompting 
whatever. 

He learned only one stanza during the first bout. 
The book was put aside then until the next day, 
when more of the selection would be mastered. But 
when he came tO' the task the following day, and he 
was asked to recite the first stanza, he could not do it, 
unless he was prompted on the first word or two 
of each line. He had fixed the words in each line 
in an automatic series, so that once he got started 
he could go through with some readiness; but he 
could not couple the lines together in the right way, 
because the bond of unity between them was not 
strong. After he had made the attempt to recall 
the stanza, he was asked if he remembered what it 
was about, and he apparently had only a very dim 
conception of its content. 

When he read it originally he did not stop to 
picture to himself what it described. He was con- 
Appreciation of cerned solely with getting the words 
meaning as an established in memory, so he could 
aid to memory cattle them off at will. He gave lit- 
tle if any attention apparently to the meaning of 
each line, or of the stanza as a whole. Consequently, 
when he could not think of the first word of each 
series he could not release the combination. Follow- 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 279. 

ing this plan, he could not learn to recite the selec- 
tion except by incessant repetition, wherein he could 
make automatic the mere vocal series, so that once 
set a-going, he would run along a certain route, 
because he had followed it so often that he had 
worn a groove from his brain to his tongue, as it 
were. 

One need not hesitate to say that this is an ex- 
tremely wasteful method of procedure. And it is 
worse than wasteful. It tends to develop a bad 
mental habit. An individual who has much expe- 
rience of this sort is apt to reach the stage where 
he can deal with words only, and he may lose his 
feeling for the meanings behind them. His mind 
gets set according to a verbal pattern, which pre- 
vents him from being plastic in regard to realities. 

The writer was able to make an experiment in 
memorizing by directing this boy in his learning the 
An experiment remaining stanzas of The Landing 
in memorizing of the Pilgrims. The first step 
taken was to have him read the selection as a whole, 
help being given him with the unusual words, so 
that he would not delay long over them. The pur- 
pose in this method was to develop in him a feeling 
for the situation in its entirety as described in the 
poem. Then going back, he read each stanza, and 
was asked to indicate the situations which it de- 



28o EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

picted. He needed some assistance in getting the 
content of certain of the stanzas and particular 
lines in the selection ; but the poem as a whole was 
easily within his grasp, when he was guided a little 
in interpreting it. 

After he had gone through in this way with each 
stanza, indicating his understanding of the scenes 
described, he was asked next to talk about the situa- 
tion as a unity, and he was able to do so with pleas- 
ing fullness and definiteness. As a result of this 
exercise, he declared he could see the waves and the 
coast and the Pilgrims, and the difficulties under 
which they made their landing, and the conditions 
of forest and sky when they landed. He also appre- 
ciated their trials in dealing with this new and 
strange world in which they were placed. He was 
interested in the description of the types of indi- 
viduals in the party, and of their courage and hero- 
ism in the face of tremendous obstacles. 

So much for the first day. The next day he was 
asked at the outset to begin with the first stanza, and 
to describe the scenes which it depicted. He could 
readily tell the content of that stanza in his own 
words. Then he was asked to note how the poet 
expressed each thought. The first lines seemed to 
him straight and orderly, containing for the most 
part the ordinary expressions of daily life. But it 



THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 281 

was different with other hnes, as in the one, "And 
the stars heard, and the sea." When asked why the 
poet did not say, "And the stars and the sea heard," 
the boy at once saw that it would not sound right. 
"It would not be poetry to speak in that way." This 
impressed him with the poetical order in which the 
simple thought conveyed could be best expressed. 
Then when he came to recite the line he experienced 
little difficulty. He had the content, and he also had 
gained the idea of the poetical form of expression. 
Proceeding in this way with the remaining 
stanzas, the boy got a preliminary acquaintance with 
each one in a few minutes. Then going back and 
reciting two or three stanzas as a unit, because they 
described a situation which could be apprehended as 
a whole, he could in this way bind them to one an- 
other in memory. The thread which held them to- 
gether in his thought was the progression of events 
which they narrated, and which was perfectly nat- 
ural and orderly, such as he is familiar with in his 
daily experience. Once this matter of progression 
of ideas is appreciated, the remaining task of getting 
the details of expression Is comparatively easy; 
but without this thread of connection being grasped, 
it becomes a process of remembering by main force. 
The only way this latter sort of memorizing can be 
accomplished is by establishing a purely automatic 



282 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

series, in which there is no bond of natural connec- 
tion, except that any given word may release the 
word which has followed it through a large number 
of repetitions. 

There is so much that children should become pos- 
sessed of in the schools to-day that every effort 
ought to be made to eliminate waste in memory 
work. It will not take long to impress upon chil- 
dren in the fourth grade that when they are mem- 
orizing a poem they must first get the situation 
described in each stanza, so that they can begin at the 
beginning and tell the story, running through the 
stanzas to the end. Next they must see how the 
poet expresses each thought developed, and thus 
they can fix the poet's form of expression. A 
method like this will not only conserve energy and 
time, but it will also give pupils an appreciation of 
the content and poetical mode of expression of the 
poems which they are memorizing. 



CHAPTER IX 

TENDENCIES OF NOVICES IN TEACHING 

The writer recently sent letters to one hundred 
high-school principals and superintendents of 
schools in the Middle West, asking them to give the 
results of their experience with new teachers, speci- 
fying their strong and their weak points as they had 
occasion to observe them in the practical work of the 
school-room. The opinions gained in this way were 
then compared with reports upon the strong and 
weak points of one thousand teachers made after 
careful inspection of class-room work by a special 
committee of a state university. 

The principals and superintendents declared, with 
scarcely an exception, that the secondary-school 
Some typical teacher fresh from college commonly 
defects in falls far short of large success in his 

teaching teaching, mainly because he has no 

adequate conception of what a high school ought to 
accomplish. And when he begins he often lacks 
genuine sympathy with the kind of work the high 
school must do. Further, he frequently has but 

283 



284 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

slight appreciation of what should be the proper re- 
lation of his department to other departments in the 
high school. His ambition usually is to push his 
subject to the front regardless of its relative im- 
portance for secondary-school pupils. Speaking 
generally, he has given but little serious thought to 
the question of the values of studies, and conse- 
quently he has only a meager notion of how to con- 
struct a well-balanced program of studies for the 
high school. He has been thinking, even up to the 
moment of beginning his teaching, about mastering 
his college physics, or Latin, or algebra, and his 
mind is quite destitute on the subject of the needs as 
a whole of high-school boys and girls. 

Such teachers often strenuously insist upon doing 
special and technical work before their pupils have 
Special and gained a general view of a subject. 

technical An enthusiast in physics may spend 

work too early ^ whole year on such a topic as 
light; a biologist may decline to teach anything in 
his department but the frog; a Latinist may en- 
deavor to get the subjunctive mood in all its breadth 
and depth set right in the minds of the immature 
classicists under his care. And so it is apt to go 
through all the studies. The teacher has himself 
passed beyond the general view of his subject, and 
he has come to feel the necessity of going deep into 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 285 

some special problem. He is eager to push toward 
the frontier, and take a look into the unknown 
country; and, naturally enough, he feels that what 
is of chief interest to himself ought to be of chief 
interest to every one else. Here again it is im- 
pressed upon us that most of the tragedies of the 
class-room arise out of the inability of the teacher 
to put himself at the point of view of the learner, 
with the result that the latter may remain quite un- 
touched by his instruction. 

Eighty-five of the principals and superintendents 
consulted mention a third very common defect in 
"Shooting over the high-school teachers especially; 
heads" of pupils they lecture to their pupils in a 
formal way, and consequently "shoot over their 
heads." And the lecturer is apt to reason that if he 
is not followed and appreciated the class is at fault, 
and so he gives his pupils a good "dressing down" 
frequently. It is his business to expound the truth, 
and the pupils' business to absorb it. He does all 
that can be expected of him when he spreads out 
wisdom before these callow youths. 

The reports upon one thousand teachers made by 
university inspectors point out a half-dozen or more 
Spiritless teaching and common defects, the one 
the causes therefor mentioned most frequently 

being spiritless teaching. The causes for this are 



286 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

numerous ; but dry, text-book work is at the bottom 
of most of it. One type of teacher insists upon 
verbatim rendering of a text, which at best is only 
partially comprehended by the pupil. Out of one 
thousand teachers, one hundred and thirteen teach 
in this lifeless way. The pupils see little or no rela- 
tion between the parts of the subject they are study- 
ing; and, worst of all, what they are trying to 
assimilate has but slight connection with the real 
situations of daily life. Such teachers, as far as they 
have any clear end in view in their work, and some 
of them probably have none at all, are dominated by 
the aim of formal discipline — to "develop the mental 
faculties" of their pupils. The way to accomplish 
this is to require them to learn a text, and give it 
back verbatim. This sort of work will, moreover, 
in the opinion of these teachers, develop habits 
which will be of great importance In after life — 
habits of attention, perseverance, long-suffering (al- 
though the instructor would not call it by this 
name), and the capacity for doing disagreeable and 
uninteresting tasks. It will develop contentment 
with plodding, and docility in the performance of 
drudgery; and since life is one long struggle in 
doing things one hates, a pupil had best get used to 
it while he is in school. 

It seems probable that all novices, and par- 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 287 

ticularly those who teach in the high school, would 
Vital vs. be saved some unhappy hours, and would 
formal become a more helpful guide to youth, if 
teaching j^g could be made to realize that he ought 
to try to teach his subject so that it will explain in a 
real and vital way some phase of the pupil's environ- 
ment, and give him a mastery over it. Elementary 
teachers have been hearing so much the last decade, 
or longer, about mere formal teaching, that even a 
novice in the grades can hardly escape being in- 
fluenced by the discussion; but this is not quite so 
true of high-school teachers. A considerable num- 
ber of the latter fail because they are satisfied with 
more or less verbal, mechanical, definition teaching. 
This is why things move so slowly in the classes of 
some of these novices. Pupils are "eager to get out 
of the class at the close of the hour"; "they seem 
bored"; their faces "show lack of intelligence and 
appreciation"; they seem ready to "cut up pranks 
at every opportunity" ; "they make the teacher's life 
miserable" ; "there is a good deal of nagging going 
on in these class-rooms much of the time." This 
style of teacher has a hard time himself, and he 
makes things hard for his pupils. Most unfortunate 
of all, he is apt to waste their time, and to develop 
in them a distaste for everything that has to do with 
school life. 



288 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The second fault which the inspectors find most 
frequently is not entirely different from the one just 
Narrowness mentioned; it is narrowness of view. 
of view Teachers sometimes go into a great 

deal of minute details, without leading pupils to an 
appreciation of their bearing upon the large ques- 
tions involved. Again, pupils are kept immersed in 
forms, definitions, rules, and fail to grasp the con- 
tent to which they refer. They do not get into the 
spirit of the subjects they study. This defect is 
noticed more often in the teaching of English litera- 
ture and foreign language than elsewhere, though it 
is seen also in history and other branches. In these 
subjects, which are so full of human interest, the 
novice is apt to keep the pupils plodding along on the 
dusty road, rarely leading them up on the heights 
where they can get a view of the landscape lying 
around. 

Of course, this defect must be due primarily to 
the teacher's lack of a broad and genuine apprecia- 
tion of the subjects he essays to teach. He has dined 
off the husks of knowledge, and knows not the taste 
of the real grain. He regards a language as a body 
of verbal forms, being related to one another accord- 
ing to the rules described in rhetoric and grammar; 
and he looks upon these rules as having final value 
in themselves. History is for him not so much a 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 289 

story of human life in times past as it is a glossary 
of names and tables of dates. Literature for such a 
teacher is not primarily a portrayal of concrete 
situations in human life; it is a drill-book in rhetor- 
ical and grammatical formulae. One may find 
some teachers who have gained a broader view of 
these things for themselves, but who, when they 
come to instruct others, abandon it, and give them- 
selves up to rules and forms and dates and names 
and definitions. 

Next in the list of demerits comes inaccurate 
knowledge, which is found most frequently in the 
Inaccurate teaching of foreign language and his- 
knowledge tory. One sees teachers who make an 
effort to give instruction in German, but who have 
got all they know out of a book, and who have not 
spoken or read it to any extent outside of the school- 
room. They have never had occasion to use the 
language in a serious way. They have never 
thought at first hand in it, or interpreted thought 
presented in it. Consequently most of the subtle 
peculiarities that really constitute the personality of 
the language and distinguish it from others have 
escaped them. Here, as we should expect, teaching 
is apt to become mechanical and artificial. 

One who gets only a teaching knowledge of Ger- 
man or any other foreign language can hardly lead 



290 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

the young into possession of the same in a really 
effective way. What has not come into one's own 
life in any important, vital manner, can never be 
taught to others economically and dynamically. The 
teaching relation must always' be imperfect unless 
the teacher seeks to impart to the learner knowledge 
which he has found of value in his own adjustment 
to his environments. Any other kind of knowledge 
will be cold, inert, sterile in the teacher's hands. 
The human mind is so constructed that it will work 
effectively in those situations only where lack of 
such efficiency will bring discomfort. It will not ex- 
ert itself to be exact or agile where the result of its 
efforts are indifferent. So if we would develop in 
our teachers the capacity to do accurate work in any 
study, we must, in their preparatory training, put 
them into vital situations, where they will, from 
hard experience, come to realize the necessity of 
absolute accurac}^ ; and this principle holds as well 
in the teaching of their pupils. 

The inspectors referred to above frequently report 
a defect which is regarded as very common and 
Failure to serious by principals and superintend- 
make pupils ents alike. The reports indicate that 
self-active many teachers fail to get any zvork 
out of their pupils. The '^teacher is too prominent" ; 
"she does all the talking"; ''she manipulates all the 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 291 , 

apparatus herself"; "she asks a pupil to solve a 
problem, and then does it herself"; "she draws all 
the illustrations", etc. The defect in such work is, 
of course, that pupils are not reacting upon what is 
presented to them, and so are not making it their 
own. Neither elementary nor high-school pupils 
have had sufficient experience ordinarily to organize 
what is offered them in the class-room with systems 
of thought and conduct already established, unless 
they actually do for themselves the most of what is 
done in the class. They can not fully comprehend 
an experiment unless they get together and in work- 
ing order the apparatus to perform it, for otherwise 
they can not see how a phenomenon is produced. So 
to have the pupils sit in their seats day after day, 
and look on while the teacher performs experiments 
to illustrate principles, is poor teaching. The ulti- 
mate purpose in teaching physics, or any science in 
the. high school or elsewhere, should be, of course, 
to enable a pupil to interpret the phenomena which 
occur outside of school. He must be led to see be- 
hind the infinite variety of happenings about him 
great laws and principles which really simplify the 
world, and in this way he may gain poise, stability, 
and confidence in the midst of otherwise bewilder- 
ing phenomena. But this end can not be achieved 
when the pupil is merely an onlooker in the class- 



292 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

room or m the laboratory, and not self-active in 
producing and interpreting events. 

It is certainly reasonable to say that he alone can 
be a successful teacher who knows how to produce 
Dynamic appropriate reactions right along from 
vs. static those he is instructing. This does not 
attitudes rnean that the whole of any class exer- 
cise must be devoted to give-and-take between 
teacher and pupils, when once the latter are in a re- 
active attitude. The instructor may be able with 
profit to take the reins in his own hands for a good 
part of the hour; but the moment the class comes 
to realize that he is certain to hold the boards for the 
entire period, so that they can lie back and let him 
work — at that very moment he ought to cease 
giving, and get his class into an active attitude. 

This can be put down as a primary law of teach- 
ing: there can be no effective learning in any class 
where the pupils are not in a dynamic attitude 
toward the thing which is being presented. And 
they can not be dynamic for any considerable length 
of time at a stretch unless they are self -active in 
organizing and setting forth in some way — lin- 
guistically, laboratorially, representatively, or other- 
wise — the material which they are endeavoring to 
assimilate. When a teacher has had a group of 
pupils for one month, say, a visitor can tell in five 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 293 

minutes whether or not he has developed in that 
class the fundamental attitudes essential to effective 
learning. 

It really is not of so much importance whether a 
teacher asks a question that can be answered by yes 
Appropriate or nOj the hete noir of pedagogy, pro- 
reaction is vided his method as a whole will cause 
the thing i^jg class to react vitally in the appro- 
priation of what is offered. Some of the more 
widely exploited rules of pedagogy relate to the 
mere external, artificial, and superficial aspects of 
teaching. One might ignore every one of these 
popular and much-lauded rules, and still be a great 
teacher. Of course, he would be a better teacher if 
he violated no sensible rules, whether they be of 
fundamental or only of secondary importance. But 
no matter how many rules he learns for asking ques- 
tions and organizing and managing a class, he will 
be a dead failure if he does not keep his class in a 
constant dynamic relation toward the subject he is 
teaching. 

The writer once saw a teacher of geology who 
was a crude-looking man, and who was conducting 
a class while coatless. His hands looked as 
though he had been out gathering specimens re- 
cently. These specimens were arranged around the 
sides of the room in which he was teaching. He 



294 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

had all kinds of charts and other apparatus for illus- 
trating the principles of geology. He murdered 
some of the popular rules for asking questions and 
the like, but he was conducting one of the best 
classes the writer has ever observed. The pupils 
were learning geology that was geology, and not 
mere words. Any kind of method that will secure 
results of this sort is sound. 

Some teachers go too far in doing nothing in the 
class-room on their own initiative, except to question 
The teacher their pupils. They have heard some- 
fmiist not where that self -activity must always be 
be neutral attained in teaching, and that: the best 
m his class ^q^^.^^^^ ^Qgg the least ; and they inter- 
pret this to mean that the pupil should have nothing 
done for him, but to be quizzed and exhorted. The 
rule is made to apply as well to the senior in the 
high school as to the child beginning his primer. 
But a teacher who is accustomed to base his prac- 
tice upon careful observation of the reactions of his 
pupils would realize that the senior in the high school 
has experiences which will often enable him to appre- 
hend and organize effectively what is presented to 
him for the first time, so that it is not always nec- 
essary that he should be stimulated by the question- 
and-answer method in respect to everything he is 
learning. He can dispose of some things as fast as 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 295 

the teacher can give them to him. The farther 
along the scholastic route a pupil gets, the greater 
stock of elementary ideas he becomes possessed of, 
and the better chance he has of interpreting new 
ideas and working them into his mental fabric upon 
their first presentation to him. 

A wise teacher would tell his pupils as much as 
they could comprehend, and just as fast as they 
could grasp it, because of their experience with 
similar things in the previous work of the school, 
or in their lives in the world without. But some one 
may ask how we are able to tell when a pupil com- 
prehends a principle unless we quiz him. An efficient 
teacher can tell from the thousand subtle signs in 
eye and body whether what she teaches is finding 
lodgment in the minds and wills of her pupils. She 
will attach least importance to the mere verbal 
reaction of a pupil. He may speak out of the top of 
his mind, and use words and phrases that have no 
content for him; but the features are a bulletin- 
board upon which is written plainly to the experi- 
enced eye what is happening within. 

It seems to the writer that we do not hear enough 
about teachers striving to cultivate the art of telling 
The need of ^^'^^^^ Herbartian pedagogy is the chief 
effective offender in this direction, I think. It 

lecturing has exalted quizzing to the detriment 



296 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

of effective lecturing. To illustrate this point, take 
the teaching of any topic in history. A genuine 
teacher would have more than intellectual concep- 
tions in this subject; he would have an emotional 
attitude toward every question which could arise. 
Sometimes he would approve, while at other times 
he would disapprove, and a genuine teacher would 
help his pupils to interpret facts for their own guid- 
ance by his emotional attitude toward them. And 
he can best express the results of his experience 
when he takes some part in a class besides quizzing. 
He can not arouse the emotional life of his pupils 
best when he simply questions them, and so he can 
not push their convictions over into action. Every 
one realizes that there is a vast deal taught in the 
schools that does not influence the active life of 
pupils in any large degree. Even if they really 
apprehend the principles that are aimed at, the latter 
do not strike deep down into the springs of conduct, 
and get coupled up with the motives and impulses 
which are the regulators of conduct. And there is 
nothing which can bring about this fusion of prin- 
ciples and impulse so readily as the personality of a 
teacher. If his beliefs have become organized into 
action, they will be revealed in many subtle ways 
through voice and facial expression and manner, 
which will more or less subconsciously be imitated 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 297 

by the learner, and this will tend to incite in him 
such attitudes as are taken by the teacher. 

It is said often that a teacher has no right to put 
his own interpretation upon the facts he teaches; 
he must not let his pupils know how he feels about 
anything. But this is certainly an erroneous view of 
the function of the teacher. Whatever adjustment 
the teacher has made and has found of service, he 
should seek by every means in his power to get 
adopted by those whom he teaches. Of course, in 
matters in which he is in doubt he will lead his pupil 
to see the reasons therefor, and leave the latter free 
to resolve the doubt by his own experience. But 
there is much relating to belief and conduct we teach 
in the schools that we may consider as settled, and 
our business is to get this embodied in the behavior 
of the young in the most economical and effective 
way possible. The point to be impressed is that the 
teacher who makes up his mind not to tell anything 
to pupils, but to draw everything out of them, can 
never, no matter how skilful he becomes, make 
much more than half a teacher, especially with older 
pupils. 

The writer knows a teacher of music who receives 
compensation at the rate of three dollars an hour for 
The quiz- private lessons. This teacher is giving 
master instruction to several young people; and 



29B EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

his method consists in assigning lessons and criti- 
cizing them from time to time. He does not really 
teach his pupils, in the sense that he follows them 
carefully through their difficulties, and helps them to 
appreciate properly, and to establish habits of cor- 
rect execution. He says they should each practise 
at home three hours a day; and they must have 
assistance from some one who can help them to 
work out their tasks successfully. He thinks it is 
his duty simply to decide when they have the right 
habits — not to be responsible for the making of 
them. That is to say, he acts as a critic, and de- 
pends upon some one else to do the actual work of 
teaching. He says this is the proper function of an 
instructor. The pupil must learn somewhere else 
than in his own studio. He will point out errors in 
the student's work, but he will not attempt to study 
the pupil to find out why he makes these errors, and 
how he can eliminate them most economically and 
effectively. 

There are teachers in the schools who look upon 
teaching in much the same way that this instructor 
of music does. They think their function is to ask 
examination questions, and to fail a pupil if he does 
not give the right answers. They do not think they 
should find out why a pupil can not give correct 
answers, and help him to overcome his difficulty. 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 299 

The writer has talked with such teachers, who 
frankly say that their mission is to assign lessons 
and to test a pupil's mastery of them in the recita- 
tion ; and they expect the pupil to get the lessons out- 
side of the recitation. If he needs help he must get 
it at home or in some other place. 

This really makes of the teacher an examiner , not 
an instructor in the true sense. Viewed in the 
proper light, an instructor is a person who shows a 
novice how to gain new knowledge and skill in the 
most economical and effective ways. Mere exam- 
ination is incidental to his true work. The German 
instructor more than most others realizes that his 
main business is to help the pupil to acquire new 
knowledge accurately and without w^aste of time or 
energy. He would rather delegate to some one else 
the process of mere drill work. Of course, both 
offices can be combined in the same individual; but 
if either function must be neglected, that of simple 
testing is the less important. 

By no kind of courtesy can the sort of teaching 
referred to be regarded as satisfactory. It is pos- 
sible that music teachers especially have got into the 
way of thinking that their work should be confined 
to listening to the performance of their pupils and 
pointing out errors and ways of improvement, and 
then leaving it for others to bring about the develop- 



300 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

ment which is desired. This may be one reason why 
with years of constant application many persons 
make only indifferent progress in the learning of 
music. The moral is applicable to the teaching of 
every subject. 

Defects often appear in the work of novices 
which are due to the tendency to make formal rules 
Making formal cover a great variety of cases where 
rules cover too the circumstances are not precisely 
many cases ^i^g same. Here is one teacher who 

has learned that pupils ought always to rise when 
they recite, and so she keeps at her flock day in and 
day out to get up from their seats whenever they 
say even as much as a single word. She wastes time 
in nagging at her pupils, and she sometimes arouses 
an antagonistic attitude in them. Doubtless there are 
conditions under which a pupil ought to rise when 
he recites. If the class is a large one, those farthest 
away from the one reciting will not be apt to give 
their attention to what is going on unless they can 
see and hear the speaker. They need this help in 
order to hold their thoughts to what he may say. 
Then, when a class has been long sitting there is a 
physiological advantage in standing. Again, if a 
pupil is to speak for some time he can doubtless 
have better command of himself and speak with 
greater force if he rises. But precious time is 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 301 

wasted when pupils are kept jumping up continu- 
ally, and it may get to be a mere matter of form 
with them, which may detract from the spirit of the 
recitation. When the class is small and the teacher 
is in close proximity to all the pupils, a much bet- 
ter spirit is engendered by an informal method of 
recitation. For the teacher here to insist upon a 
pupil always rising is to place form before sub- 
stance; she is likely to alienate instead of to win 
her class. Still again, when pupils are seated in a 
semicircle, so that they can all see one another, the 
spirit of the class will often be best when pupils 
recite sitting rather than standing. Once more, a 
timid pupil is easily embarrassed when he arises, 
and for him it would often be better to recite in 
the way in which he can do it with the least con- 
fusion. 

The inspectors as well as the superintendents and 
principals lay emphasis upon lack of authority 
The teacher who as a serious defect in many nov- 
lacks authority ices. Often they can not "com- 
mand the respect and confidence of their pupils"; 
"they can not discipline well" ; "their class-rooms are 
in disorder much of the time" ; "pupils follow their 
own sweet wills"; "the serious work of the school 
is not the most prominent thing in the minds of the 
pupils" ; "they are bent on mischief" ; "pupils will not 



302 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

apply themselves to their studies, but waste the pre- 
cious hours in dawdling away their time, or in rais- 
ing Cain" ; and so on ad libitum. 

The special teachers reported upon could not cor- 
rect their failing because they lacked self-confidence. 
They could not muster enough courage to subdue 
the spirit of mischief surging up in the bosoms of 
their pupils; or they were lax in their conception 
of what should be demanded of pupils ; or they had 
certain mannerisms which operated to their disad- 
vantage. In some cases they lacked physical strength 
for the needs of the school-room, which fact was re- 
vealed in their voices and faces. Probably the most 
serious of all defects in a teacher is a weak person- 
ality, in the sense in which this is generally under- 
stood. Pupils come into the school bringing with 
them tendencies which have to be replaced by others 
of a different character. When they are inside the 
school, primitive impulses seek inevitably to come to 
the front, and there is needed a power constantly 
acting which will noiselessly yet surely put a quietus 
upon these impulses, and give encouragement to 
others of a more estimable kind. Now, this power 
which must work in silent, unobtrusive, but yet ef- 
fective ways is the personality of the teacher. It 
will countenance certain kinds of conduct and con- 
demn others. And what a powerful teacher regards 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 303 

with favor will thrive in the pupil's thought, feel- 
ing, and action; and what he censures will lie dor- 
mant in the pupil's springs of conduct. Certain it is 
that if the personality of the teacher is not more 
dynamic than that of his pupils, the latter will hold 
their own course, right or wrong. 

Contrasted with the faltering teacher is the one 
who has at all times an imperious manner to- 
The imperious ward his pupils. He is usually sar- 
teacher castic in his treatment of the weak 

and the erring. He rarely excuses failures of any 
sort ; he will not be satisfied with anything less than 
the whole bond. A timid girl may try to answer the 
teacher's question, but may get confused and retire 
under a volley of sharp criticism. Such a teacher 
misses no opportunity to rasp his pupils. He is al- 
ways in a critical, faultfinding mood. One rarely 
hears him saying anything agreeable in his class- 
room. The result is, of course, that there is an un- 
happy relation existing most of the time between in- 
structor and student. Pupils get into the way of 
expecting something distressing to occur. The 
school in such hands becomes indeed a primitive 
institution. Truth is gained in such a place at con- 
siderable cost to good feeling and happiness on all 
sides. 

Teachers sometimes get the notion that they must 



304 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

be "full of life" in the class-room. They think that 
Undue haste in work must always be crowded 
the class-room through ; pupils must be made to 
hurry in their tasks, since speed is of primary con- 
sequence in every activity of life. One may visit 
the class-room of a teacher who has been advised in 
this way, and who attempts to follow the advice in 
her teaching, and he can observe the baneful influ- 
ence of such doctrines. The teacher is usually rest- 
less in her work. She constantly says to her pupils 
— ''Hurry up!" "I will give you one minute to do 
that work. Why do you take so long?" 'That prob- 
lem is easy; you ought to do it at once!" If a child 
is working at some arithmetic problem, say, and he 
is striving to see his way through it, the teacher may 
break in and spoil everything by criticism, when she 
ought to hold her tongue. 

It requires self-control for a teacher to wait un- 
til her pupil thinks his way through his problems; 
but one who can not so wait can not teach. A com- 
petent teacher will follow the expressions of a child's 
face, and detect when he really needs help or stimu- 
lation. She will keep hands off just as long as the 
pupil is at work on a problem ; and she will develop 
in him confidence that he will not be interrupted 
while he is trying to solve his difficulties. One can 
see in the pupils under an impatient teacher a mor- 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 305 

bid fear that before they can finish their work he 
will interrupt them, either to tell them or to scold 
them or to prod them. This is deadly in its influence 
on the intellectual and emotional development of a 
child. It irritates and annoys and discourages pu- 
pils. 

Many men have written on the beneficent effect 
of humor in every-day life, but not much has been 
Humor in the said regarding the desirability of a 
school-room teacher having an appreciation of 
humor, and a disposition to indulge in it on appro- 
priate occasions in his relations with his pupils. The 
writer of these lines recently went through twenty 
books on pedagogy and methods of teaching, and 
he did not find the word humor mentioned in one of 
them. It should be added that while in three rather 
modern books, there is no direct statement regard- 
ing the value of humor in teaching, still its value 
is implied in the general suggestions given for han- 
dling pupils. It seems safe to predict that in the 
educational books of the future, chapters will be de- 
voted to a discussion of the psychology of humor, 
and its extraordinary service in keeping a school- 
room sane, cheerful and interested. 

A teacher with a sense of humor can solve many 
difficult problems in discipline, where a teacher with- 
out it would fail altogether. The errors of the 



3o6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

school-room, in respect alike to intellectual work and 
to conduct, may often be best corrected if the teacher 
will take a humorous rather than a tragical view of 
them. Then, in the stress and strain of modern life, 
children need the relief which really good humor al- 
ways yields. Teachers ought to cultivate the habit 
of taking a cheerful view of many experiences which 
otherwise would be irritating. Conflict is often ren- 
dered more intense by solemn, sedate, angry atti- 
tudes in the teacher. Humor releases nervous ten- 
sion, brings into action the better feelings, and 
causes one to take a more joyous view of things; 
whereas if he be utterly without humor, it may take 
him days to change the unhappy set of his nervous 
system. Nothing will restore equilibrium in the over- 
tense nerves so quickly as humor. 

Can the sense of humor be cultivated? Modern 
psychology has tackled this difficult problem, but it 
Cultivating an has not yet solved it to the satis fac- 
appreciation of tion of the psychologists them- 
tlie humorous selves. But one can not go astray in 
saying that a teacher should have near at hand some 
book that in a thoroughly wholesome way presents 
the humorous side of life. Within the last decade, 
publishers have brought out a number of series of 
books containing the wit and humor of the world. 
Some of these books are probably not very good, and 



TENDENCIES OF NOVICES 307 

others may be stale ; nevertheless, taken as a whole, 
they present the sort of thing that has for centuries 
made men laugh, and it is doubtless based upon a real 
need of human nature. If a teacher could spend a 
few minutes every day over one of these books, it 
would release his own tensions bred by conflict with 
unruly things, and this would help him in meeting 
the tragedies of his profession. Goodness knows 
there are tragedies enough at best, and if there is 
any way to turn some of them into humor, we ought 
to do it. What is the use of taking a pessimistic 
view of everything? This only makes solemn things 
the more gloomy. 

For several years the writer has been able to 
study the influence of a number of different teach- 
ers upon a certain group of children. One of these 
teachers is a thoroughly pessimistic individual, who 
never laughs with her pupils. She scolds on slight 
provocation. If a child makes a slip with his tongue, 
or his pen, it is made the occasion for faultfinding, 
— never for a smile. This teacher has a hard time 
herself in her work, and every pupil in her room is 
more or less unhappy. Fortunately, children are 
usually quite insensible to scolding; but still they can 
not ignore this teacher altogether. 

Contrasted with her is another teacher who is ex- 
ceedingly autocratic, and who drives her children 



3o8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

at a rapid rate much of the time; but she has one 
saving quahty which offsets her faihngs in other 
respects. She sees the fun in much that happens in 
the school-room, and sometimes she and her chil- 
dren can be heard in laughter all over the school 
building. Her pupils are very fond of her, al- 
though she deprives some of them of peace of mind 
and sleep at night if they lag in their work. But she 
laughs with them, and they feel she is human. Peo- 
ple who laugh together can not long bear harsh 
feelings toward one another. This last teacher is a 
very hard worker, but her ability to let go sometimes 
saves her from nervous breakdown. Alienists say 
that sanity and mental poise require frequent change 
in the set of the nervous system ; and while there are 
other ways of producing this change, humor is one 
of the simplest, sanest, wholesomest, cheapest, and 
most effective ways of securing it. 



CHAPTER X 

THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 

Fifteen years ago very few people outside of 
Dunn County, Wisconsin, knew anything about Me- 
A new educational nomonie, a little lumber town, 
experiment station situated in a sparsely settled 
section of the state. To-day every one interested in 
educational progress in any of the leading countries 
has at least heard of it. Most American teachers are 
keeping watch of it. And when one visits England, 
France, or Germany, and talks with school men, the 
chances are he will be asked to describe the educa- 
tional reforms which are in process of being worked 
out in this place. Many leaders in educational and 
social progress from every part of the world have 
recently visited Menomonie for the purpose of ob- 
serving for themselves whether the new theories of 
education being tried out there are a success. It is 
an exceptional day now when Menomonie does not 
entertain distinguished visitors bent on educational 
errands, and speaking various languages. The thing 
which attracts these people from afar is the report 

309 



310 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

that the Stout Institute is demonstrating the prac- 
ticabihty and efficiency of new methods in educa- 
tion, and particularly in the training of girls. 

The pilgrimages being made to Menomonie to- 
day, remind one of similar attractions a hundred 
years ago at Burgdorf and Yverdon, where Pesta- 
lozzi illustrated the principle that children should be 
made to deal with real objects in all their education, 
instead of simply to learn words. It suggests also 
the vital reforms initiated at Keilhau by Frobel, 
where he gave a practical demonstration of his the- 
ory that the pupil ought to be self -active in all his 
work, instead of simply following the lead of his 
teacher. It suggests once more the epoch-making 
work in our own country by Sheldon in Oswego 
fifty years ago, and by Parker a little later in 
Quincy, Massachusetts. Each of these places was, 
in Its day, the Mecca for educational reformers. 
Each has contributed in an important degree to edu- 
cational development. Some of our most highly 
valued educational methods to-day were first given 
a practical test at one or another of these experi- 
mental stations. 

The feature of the work in the Stout Institute 
which attracts most attention is the "home-maker's 
A home-mak- course". There are training courses 
er's course in manual arts and domestic science 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 311 

for those who wish to teach these branches ; but the 
course in home-making is designed for girls who 
have no intention of becoming teachers, but who are 
interested in studying scientifically the problems of 
the home. The subjects pursued in this department 
relate directly to one or another phase of home life, 
though some attention is given to such studies as 
history and literature. But the list of subjects in 
the home-maker's course would seem peculiar to a 
girl pursuing the traditional courses in the typical 
high school or college. There are no foreign lan- 
guages in the course, and no mathematics, except 
such as are applied concretely tO' the problems of 
home life. Also there are no formal courses in sci- 
ence, though there is a good deal of work in the 
application of science to the problems of food, sani- 
tation, and the like. 

In the home-maker's course, primary attention is 
given to the discussion of practical problems con- 
cerning foods and food-stuffs, their nutritive and 
market values, their care and preservation, the foods 
that are suitable for persons of different ages and 
occupations, methods of determining the purity of 
foods, modes of preparing food-stuffs for persons in 
health and in sickness, the best ways of serving 
foods, and so on. Next the girls study matters per- 
taining to textiles, and the making of garments and 



312 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

articles used for the decoration of the person. 
Again, there are subjects that deal with problems of 
furnishing and decorating a house. The needs of 
persons of varying means are kept constantly in 
view, so that a girl may learn how to make her house 
attractive according to the funds at her disposal. 
She receives instruction regarding the proper way 
to purchase whatever is essential in the maintenance 
of a house, the balancing of expenditures for differ- 
ent purposes in the home, and efficient methods of 
keeping accounts of all household transactions. She 
studies the relations of individual homes to society. 
She finds out what local and general associations 
there are that relate to the home, and what should 
be its attitude toward organizations pertaining to 
the industrial, ethical, and moral welfare of its 
members. 

Finally, each girl pursues courses relating to the 
proper modes of caring for children, and of mem- 
bers of the home when the}^ are sick or recovering 
from disease. She learns the best methods of home 
nursing, what should be done in cases of typical ac- 
cidents, the use of antiseptic agents in disease, ef- 
fective methods of making a house sanitary, and so 
on. In order that these practical subjects may be 
securely grounded, students are required to study 
the sciences on which they are based — chemistry, 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 313 

physics, bacteriology, psychology, and child study. 
But these sciences are presented in a somewhat dif- 
ferent way from what they are in the typical high 
school or college. Mere technical knowledge is not 
emphasized. What is aimed at is a mastery of those 
fundamental principles which bear most directly 
upon the actual problems of home life. 

There is a home atmosphere about the institute. 
The girls take a part in the actual activities in which 
A home at- they will find it advantageous to par- 
mosphere ticipate when they return to their fa- 
ther's home, or establish homes of their own. The 
atmosphere about the traditional high school and col- 
lege is one of learning, often of memorising simply. 
The work has little or no relation to the actual con- 
ditions in the home, any more than it has to those 
of the office or the shop or the store or the farm. 
School men have said that this is the best plan, since 
then these subjects will be of value to every stu- 
dent, no matter whether he comes ultimately to have 
charge of a home or a store or an office or a farm. 
The argument is that when subjects are taught with- 
out reference to their practical application they will 
train the student's mind, and he can then utilize his 
training, though not his knowledge, in whatever sit- 
uations he may be placed in maturity. 

Observing people of affairs, as well as students of 



314 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

human nature, have abandoned the doctrine that the 
Education for purpose of education should be to 
training merely train the mind without regard to 
the specific needs of an individual in real life. Men 
look about in the world and see persons whO' have 
been through a long course of formal schooling in 
the traditional subjects of study, which have been so 
presented that they have had no relation to every- 
day problems of life, and it is seen that these per- 
sons are usually helpless in any practical situation 
until they learn by actual experience how to adapt 
themselves thereto. They have often to begin prac- 
tically de novo J and master whatever they are called 
upon to do in real life. An unprejudiced person can 
find plenty of such people among his acquaintances. 
And the principle is particularly applicable to the 
home. Students of the matter have been saying for 
a good while that the formal studies in the high 
school and college, as they have been taught, do not 
adequately prepare a girl to be happy and effective 
in her home life, though it is not questioned that 
they have a certain intellectual value, and will be of 
service to girls who have no interest in, and no need 
to give attention to, any of the practical affairs of 
life. It has been generally observed that girls who 
graduate from high school and college get on best 
if they abandon the home and go to teaching, or 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 315 

take up clerkships, and the like. The Stout Insti- 
tute is a concrete expression of the prevailing dis- 
satisfaction with the influence of the traditional 
subjects of study upon the girl's interest and capa- 
bility in the home. 

It must be impressed that in the past the training 
in the high school and the college has been directed 
toward the so-called discipline of mental faculties, 
and not toward practical situations of any sort. Un- 
der such a regimen, a girl can not make application 
of much of what she gains in school to real problems 
in life. For instance, a pupil may devote one-half of 
her time in the high school to foreign language and 
grammatical studies, and yet she may not have an 
understanding of how a child most readily develops 
efficiency in oral and written expression. She may 
have learned the names of a long list of English 
authors, the dates when they were born and when 
they died, the names of the works of each author, 
and the qualities of his style which are set out in a 
text-book, and still she may not be able to tell a story 
to a child so as to interest or help him, or to em- 
ploy really happy and effective expressions in asso- 
ciation with her children or with her neighbors. 

Any person who keeps his eyes open, and who is 
not possessed by preconceptions relating to such 
things, can observe women who have been through 



3i6 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

higher branches of mathematics, but who can not 
keep accounts correctly in their own homes, and who 
can not figure out successfully many of the practi- 
cal financial problems with which they should be 
concerned every day. Again, it is rather the excep- 
tion than the rule to find girls who, having learned 
many dates and names in history, really understand 
the political and social tendencies of the day so that 
they can talk about them intelligently, or who could 
take a hand in establishing sound government in the 
communities in which they live. Let any doubter 
study the situation in his own community, and note 
whether the women who are really "doing things" 
in the best w^ay, domestically and socially, and who 
are getting the most out of life, are those who have 
had the greatest amount of traditional education. 
Of course, it will be granted that even a formal 
training is better than nothing, much better ; but this 
is not the point at all. There is no reason why edu- 
cation should not be adapted to the needs of the 
times. There is no reason why it should continue 
to be remote from the actual problems which women 
must meet and solve in order to get the most out of 
life for themselves and for those who are dependent 
upon them. 

It may be remarked in passing that the girls whom 
one sees at Menomonie and similar schools have a 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 317 

Vital studies rather different attitude toward 
arouse interest their work from the majority of 
girls one sees pursuing the so-called "training" 
courses. Many a girl studying foreign language, 
mathematics, technical science, and formal history 
and hterature in the high school or college is ordi- 
narily not very enthusiastic about her work. She 
would not exert herself in mastering it if she were 
not impelled to it by the desire to get a diploma, 
or by some other more or less extraneous motive. 
She is not apt to talk informally and spontaneously 
about what she is learning in school or in college. 
For her, school is one thing, and life is another and 
a different thing. One who is much in contact with 
such girls can not avoid asking himself why it is 
that what they are learning in all these traditional 
subjects does not play a larger role in their every- 
day thought and conversation. But it is really dif- 
ferent in an institution like the Stout school. Every 
observer notices this difference. The girls here 
seem happier, too. They appear to be more spon- 
taneous and enthusiastic in respect to their school 
work. One finds girls in this institute who have not 
taken kindly to high school and college work in other 
places. They have had to be coaxed and even driven 
to exert themselves sufficiently to keep from being 
sent home. But they appear to have become aroused 



3i8 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

at last, partly because so much of their work now 
requires the use of the hands, and also because it is 
concrete, and has a direct bearing upon every-day 
problems. This sort of thing takes hold of at least 
many girls who can not become enthusiastic over 
memorizing studies divorced from all practical situ- 
ations. 

The sort of work which has been commended 
above Is now being Introduced in all progressive 
Spread of the high schools, and In some of the 
movement for colleges; though when compared 
Vital edueation ^jth the traditional studies, it has 
not yet made much of an impression in most places. 
In every up-to-date secondary school there is work 
offered in domestic science; and In some schools 
there are good courses In vocational subjects for 
girls. In the leading universities, especially those 
under state control, there are numerous courses deal- 
ing with household arts. However, a considerable 
part of this work Is still rather formal, and remote 
from the actual needs of girls. Domestic science is 
not Infrequently taught In a verbal and mechanical 
way. One who Inspects schools often sees girls 
studying this subject who have not clearly grasped 
the idea that It relates to the actual problems con- 
nected with the management of a home. One typical 
Instance may illustrate this principle. A girl had 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 319 

reached her junior year in a high school in the Mid- 
dle West. She had had lessons in domestic science 
once a week for four years — since she entered the 
seventh grade of the elementary school. She had 
filled a note-book with formulae relating to the com- 
position of food-stuffs, as potatoes, flour, beans, and 
the like, and relating also to the methods of pre- 
paring them for the table. But she was requested 
one day while she was at the dinner-table to tell 
what was the nutritive value of the bill of fare on 
this particular occasion. She was asked whether it 
illustrated a well-balanced dietary; whether it was 
adapted to the special needs of the different per- 
sons who were dining at the time; whether the ar- 
ticles were properly cooked ; whether the foods were 
adapted to the time of the year and of the day when 
they were served; and whether they were used in 
amounts calculated to preserve the right proportion 
of elements necessary for proper nutrition. It will 
be noticed that these were reasonable questions, and 
they should have been answered readily by one who 
had studied the subjects of food and nutrition for 
four years. But this girl, who had made a record 
of excellent in her domestic science, and who was 
regarded as one of the best students in the high 
school, could not answer satisfactorily any of the 
questions asked her regarding this particular meal. 



320 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

Her responses indicated that she was not really di- 
recting her attention tO' the situation immediately 
before her. The expression of her face and the re- 
moteness of her answers showed that she was try- 
ing to recall what she had memorized sometime in 
the past. For four years she had been engaged 
mainly in memorizing facts presented in text-books, 
or in lectures; and in recitation she had been exer- 
cised principally in recalling these. The supreme 
test of efficiency in her case had been her ability to 
pass an examination, not her power to execute the 
thing she had been studying. She had not been 
placed very often in situations where she could try 
out her knowledge to see whether she really knew 
what she had learned ; and whether she could apply 
what she thought she knew to concrete instances. 
This kind of teaching can, of course, yield only ver- 
bal mechanical results. 

There is not yet so much of a home atmosphere 
in the domestic science department of the typical 
A serious defect high school and college as there 
in domestic sci- should be ; and this is a serious de- 
ence instruction fg^.^ which can not be easily over- 
come in any institution where most of the work has 
no practical bearings. The majority, perhaps, of 
those who give instruction in domestic science have 
not themselves made homes. They have studied the 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 321 

problems of the home at long range. Some of them 
do not have a very lively home feeling. What they 
have acquired regarding the home they have gained 
for purposes of teaching, and not with a view to 
actual utilization in real situations. Under such cir- 
cumstances, it is impossible to give girls genuinely 
helpful instruction. It should be added in fairness 
that teachers of domestic science probably have a 
rather more vital attitude toward their work than 
the teachers of some other subjects. The typical in- 
structor in foreign language in our country is often 
a grammarian. Usually he does not think in the 
language he teaches, nor does he speak it or read it 
well. But he has mastered the grammar of the lan- 
guage, and for the most part this is what he teaches. 
Foreign language not being a matter of much prac- 
tical consequence in our country, our people are not 
very critical of the kind of instruction given there- 
in, though they like to feel that in some mysterious 
way the minds of pupils are being trained or disci- 
plined by linguistic study. 

Again, those who give instruction in botany 
often have only a slight knowledge of living nature, 
and sometimes not a great amount of sympathy 
with it. Like the teachers of language, they have 
mastered the technical side of their subject, and this 
is v/hat they teach. Not infrequently pupils come 



322 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

from the study of botany who understand but Httle 
concerning the conditions under which plants Hve, 
how they may be made of service to man, what is 
their relation tO' the anim.al life surrounding them, 
and so on. And what is true in respect to the teach- 
ing of language and botany holds also for physics, 
geography, rhetoric, and other subjects. 

Ever since Locke's day students of education 
have been wrestling with the problem of making 
teaching vital instead of merely formal. It is com- 
paratively easy to teach any subject that is worked 
out logically in a series of definitions and general 
principles considered apart from the concrete par- 
ticulars to which they relate. It is always more diffi- 
cult to deal with actual conditions in human life or 
in nature than to deal v/ith abstractions. The world 
as it actually exists is so diversified that it over- 
whelms many a teacher, and he clings to his gener- 
alizations because of their formal simplicity. Many 
a man teaches psychology, for instance, who feels 
himself in a strange land when face to face with 
live human beings, and required to describe their 
mental processes and their tendencies. Text-book 
psychology is a far simpler thing than a science of 
concrete human life. These matters are mentioned 
merely to show how natural it is for a teacher to 
present domestic science in a formal, remote, ab- 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 323 

stract way, as a body of rules and formulae to be 
memorized. But the situation in respect to this sub- 
ject in the high schools and colleges is certainly no 
worse, and it is probably not much better, than the 
situation in respect to some of the older subjects. 

In the foregoing discussion, it has been to some 
extent assumed that most girls at any rate should be 
A curriculum based required to devote a consider- 
on discipline able part of their time in the 
public schools to the scientific study of the specific 
problems of the home. But some readers may think 
we have assumed too much. There are those who 
will say : ''We are not anxious that our girls should 
be taught household arts anyway. What we wish 
is that they shall have their minds trained. We want 
our girls to acquire good judgment ; to gain insight, 
to be disciplined in respect to accuracy in thinking 
and facility of expression. We do not care what 
sort of facts they learn ; all we are concerned about 
is that they shall be rightly disciplined. Training is 
the thing, not the acquisition of a body of facts in 
any subject." A large number of people in our 
country to-day think a girl in the high school should 
study only algebra, geometry, Latin, German, gram- 
mar, rhetoric, history, and English literature. 
These are the subjects. It is claimed, which will 
really give training in accurate reasoning, in sound 



324 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

judgment, in keen perception, and in faithful mem- 
ory. 

At least half of our people are still exalting 
studies that "discipline the faculties". They de- 
Boes algebra, mand that every girl in the high 
as an example, school should study algebra for a 
train the mind year and a half, to take a typical 
instance. This, they say, will make 
her keen in her perceptions, and accurate and pro- 
found in her thinking. Suppose, by way of a little 
analysis, we look at the matter in this way : A girl 
spends one hour a day studying a lesson in algebra, 
and forty-five minutes in reciting it. While she is 
preparing her work, she is bent over a book, looking 
at letters and figures arranged in certain patterns. 
What Is required of her in the solution of any prob- 
lem is to rearrange these letters and figures into new 
patterns, following the rules of the game, which have 
been previously memorized. These letters and fig- 
ures are never modified in nature or in essence. The 
only change that can be made in them is a change in 
relationship, and even this change will not occur un- 
less the girl brings it about herself. She can take her 
time to it; nothing will happen unless she makes it 
happen. She can close her book at any moment, and 
come back the next day or the next year, and the 
situation will be exactly as she left it. She does not 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 325 

have to anticipate any transformations which will 
come about from changes in the situation itself. She 
is not required to act promptly; she suffers no pen- 
alty if she does not think quickly and to the point, 
because there is no disaster impending upon her 
tardiness or obtuseness or negligence, unless it be 
arbitrarily imposed by the teacher. 

Now, what does this girl gain which will be of 
help to her in every-day life? The chances are she 
will spend some of her time In a kitchen. Seventy- 
five per cent, of all girls in the public schools will be 
required to supervise, at any rate, work in kitchens. 
For a girl to be ready and effective in adapting her- 
self to the situations presented therein, say in judg- 
ing the value of foods, her eye must be quick and 
accurate in noting variations in the color, form, 
size, texture, and mechanical composition of the 
food-stuffs before her. There is a great variety in 
the signs which she must appreciate in order wisely 
to choose and to prepare food. What has her algebra 
accomplished by way of quickening her perception 
in these things ? In her book she has had experience 
only in perceiving letters and figures devoid of color, 
or variety in forms, and absolutely lacking in quali- 
tative characteristics. The very fact that they are 
symbolic indicates that they have no qualitative val- 
ues. But In the kitchen, the girl must deal with 



326 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

qualitative characters solely, and the chances are her 
algebra will be as much of a hindrance as a help to 
her. For it is a simple matter of psychology that 
when the eye, or any sense, has perceived in a certain 
way for a year and a half it will tend to continue to 
perceive in the same manner. The girl's experience 
with algebra has deadened, if anything, the appre- 
ciation of qualitative characters and values. If she 
should read qualitative characters into the literal and 
figurative symbols before her, she could not proceed 
at all in algebra ; the condition of success is the elim- 
ination of all qualities, of all values in structure 
and function, and of all expression of qualitative 
constitution. 

Imagine a girl who has had experience with noth- 
ing but algebra; how absolutely helpless she would 
be in any situation in real life! Exactly the same 
effect would result from the study of linguistic sym- 
bols and grammar, provided the girl did not push 
through the mere symbols and technique, so that she 
could appreciate the content denoted by them. Of 
course, if the girl should be required to study engi- 
neering, or any branch of physics or mechanics, then 
algebra would be absolutely necessary for her. 
However, not more than one girl in a hundred 
thousand in the public schools will need algebra for 
engineering or mechanics. The majority of boys. 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 327 

perhaps, will have need for algebra as a tool; and 
people go on requiring of the girl what will pos- 
sibly be of service to the boy, but what is practically 
certain not to be of value to herself. 

Let us stay a little longer in the kitchen with our 
girl — the one who has spent a year and a half in 
Appreciation of Latin, two in German, one in 

changing phenomena algebra, and perhaps four in 
rhetoric, one in mathematical physics, and four in 
English. We find her now confronted with the 
problem of cooking some dish, say broiling a beef- 
steak, or baking bread. In order that she may 
be successful, her eye must be ready to note the 
constantly changing characteristics of the thing 
which is being subjected to heat. Not only must her 
eye be sensitive to transforming phenomena, but her 
ear and her sense of smell must be equally sensitive 
to the changes taking place. She must have some 
standard by which she can detennine whether the 
changes which are occurring should take place, and 
if not, what should be done to prevent them? Also, 
if the changes desired do not take place, what may 
be done to bring them about ? Will any one say that 
experience in keeping one's eyes on a book in alge- 
bra for an hour a day for a year and a half will 
make one's eye or ear or olfactor}^ sense or sense 
of temperature any the keener for situations like 



S28 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

these? One has only to present the matter to Im- 
press the absurdity of such a contention. 

There may be some reader who has followed us 
through to this point, but who will now say : "Alge- 
bra trains the girl's judgment; and sound judgment 
after all is the main thing to be thought of in educa- 
tion." When a person holds a view of this kind, it 
is almost impossible to convince him of the fallacy 
of his psychological thinking. The whole matter 
is so complicated, and the terms used are so general 
and undefined, that people ordinarily do not make 
much progress in discussing it The only way to 
get at the truth in respect to this matter is to take a 
girl in any of the typical situations in which she will 
ultimately be placed. In comprehending the social 
and natural forces in her environment, or in keep- 
ing her house sanitary, or in making it attractive, or 
in decorating herself, or in conversing with her 
neighbors, or in instructing and entertaining her 
children; in all these situations she must reach con- 
clusions readily in view of directly related past expe- 
rience, and not by means of the method of the 
equation utilized in algebra. Not once in a thou- 
sand times is a woman placed in a situation in which 
she can equate the factors to be considered, and act 
accordingly. If she should try to reduce the phe- 
nomena before her to the form of the equation, she 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 329 

would be overwhelmed by them. No one would be 
so foolish as to say that a study of algebra would 
give a woman better judgment in deciding whether 
it were better to send her boy to school at five or to 
wait until seven; whether or not she should permit 
her daughter of fifteen years tO' go out without a 
chaperon on a sleigh-ride with a boy; whether it 
would do good to scold her twelve-year-old son for 
making noise in the house, or whether she might 
better give him a little leeway in indulging his mas- 
culine impulses; whether she should devote herself 
mainly to social life or mainly to her home, and so 
on, ad libitum. But these are precisely the typical 
problems that a woman must solve in her every-day 
life. Of course, we are not now speaking of the 
very rare woman who goes into mechanics, and so 
who must master algebra and other branches of 
mathematics with great thoroughness. We have 
in view simply the women who will live the typical 
woman's life, and who must continue to do so in 
order that society may prosper. 

An important source of waste in the education of 
girls who go through high school and college is the 
The study of failure to make the study of 

foreign language foreign language effective. Inves- 
tigations made in various places have shown be- 
yond a doubt that not one girl in fifty who 



330 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

studies a foreign language in this country mas- 
ters it so that it becomes a ready instrument, 
either for the gaining or the expression of 
thought. Interesting facts bearing upon this matter 
may be observed in graduate schools. All such 
schools require that a student must have a reading 
knowledge of German and French before he will be 
given his doctor's degree. It is the usual thing for 
candidates for such degrees to go up to the last year, 
and then begin to get up their languages so they can 
pass a simple examination in them; and these stu- 
dents constitute a very small, select group, devoted 
to scholarship, and planning to lead an academic 
life. They have not been using the languages, al- 
though they had studied them for several years in 
high school and college. It is a common thing to 
hear persons who have obtained their doctor's degree 
say they can not read the foreign languages with any 
measure of success. It is very rare indeed to find an 
undergraduate student who has been put through 
foreign languages in high school and college who can 
either read them or speak them. The writer has 
often asked such students to get the substance out of 
an article or a book written in French or German; 
and where one student can do it there will be forty- 
nine who will not even attempt it, claiming it would 
be an utterly fruitless and most wearisome task. 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 331 

But some readers who are devoted to things hn- 
guistic may say : ''Our girls ought to be trained in 
Training in the the humanities. Men have ex- 
liumanities pressed their hopes and fears and 

aspirations through language, and this is the best 
material for the training of youth of either sex." 
Humanism has been a term with wdiich men have 
conjured throughout the recent history of education. 
''Culture" is another such term, which men have 
used without having any clear notion of what it 
denotes. I have tried it upon hundreds of intelligent 
seniors in the university, who were in the habit of 
using the term approvingly as the aimx of education ; 
but when asked to analyze it, and show precisely 
what is essential in a course of study in order to 
have pupils secure it, they would go wandering into 
space and never come back. Such terms, through 
long non-critical usage, have become loaded up with 
obscure, undefined, aspirational feeling, and with 
this content they are now often put forth as indi- 
cating the proper aim of education. 

A girl will absorb humanism from the study of 
the grammar of a foreign language in the high 
school in about the measure that she would acquire 
astronomy by studying an almanac, or psychology 
by looking at a phrenological chart. If we interpret 
humanism to mean a participation in the life of the 



ZZ2 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

race^ — its life, not merely its forms of communica- 
tion — then we may accept it as a worthy end to be 
striven after in education. But the simple fact is that 
girls in the high school and college who have spent 
their time largely in languages are apt to know very 
little about the real life of our ancestors. And yet 
there are people in America who go on making 
the claim, shutting their eyes to facts to the contrary 
to be found all about them. 

What sort of an educational regime will the 
American girl of to-morrow be put through? First 
A course for tlie of all, she will not receive pre- 
girl of to-morrow cisely the same treatment as a boy 
does. Those who first urged that girls as well as boys 
should be educated, maintained that the former 
were entitled to everything the latter received. For 
a long time boys had the opportunities of schooling; 
and when it was decided to give the girls an equal 
chance with them, it was natural that the system 
already worked out for the latter should be adopted 
for the former. The demand all along has been — 
let our girls have as good an education as we give 
our boys ; and this has been interpreted to mean the 
same education. 

Without doubt this is the way it should be inter- 
preted in considerable part, but there are exceptions 
which will be noted presently. We may first glance 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 333 

at the training which the girl will receive in common 
with the boy. Of course she will be taught to read, 
to write, to spell, and to make arithmetical calcula- 
tions adequate to her needs. The elementary school 
gives her this sort of thing quite effectively to-day. 
However, there is still left, even in the elementary 
school, some work based on the aim of disciplining 
the faculties. There are problems set in arithmetic 
for mere exercise, without regard to their bearing 
upon any phase of practical life. Happily, though, 
in most of our progressive communities this kind of 
arithmetical work has been eliminated, and what 
remains is of genuine value for all individuals, girls 
as well as boys. Not so much can be said for spell- 
ing, however; in the majority of schools there is 
still a considerable amount of work which is purely 
formal, and largely valueless. A girl who completes 
only the elementary or even the high school will 
never have to spell more than twenty-five hundred 
words at the outside. But in some places the ele- 
mentary school still requires the girl to practise on 
from seven to ten thousand words, with the result 
that often she does not learn to spell surely and auto- 
matically some of the simple words which she will 
frequently use in real life. 

Within the last decade the reading in the element- 
ary school has been largely revolutionized, so that 



334 EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

now pupils read for the purpose of enjoyment and 
appreciation, and not for mere discipline or ''cul- 
ture". Here, as fully as anywhere, is seen the 
triumph of a rational view of education, which is 
gaining headway in this country. 

The elementary school in advancing communities 
gives the girl some experience in music and drawing, 
though not so effective as could be desired. But 
every year one may witness evidences of growth 
away from formalism toward efficiency in the teach- 
ing of these important branches. Of all the subjects 
in the curriculum, none will be found of greater im- 
port in the life of the girl than miusic and drawing. 
Any one who looks upon hum.an life from the larger 
standpoint sees that a vital need of woman is to 
attain harmonious social adjustment, to become at- 
tractive in conduct, in personal appearance, in the 
capacity to interest people, and to provide for their 
enjoyment in agreeable ways. Drawing and music, 
taught so as to give pupils an appreciation of har- 
monies in all the varied situations of real life, and 
ability to create such harmonies in form and color 
and soi-:^(! and ^^-eneral arrang-ement will prove of 
great servi''^: to anv o-irl, no matter in what places 
her li^n;-. ; ^ ^ : v^ ; "^^'-^ these subjects must be 
presenlea so iii:.L ilieir real and vital values, instead 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 335 

of mere technique, may be gained; and this is 
already being achieved in many of the public schools 
in this country. 

The elementary school of to-day is seeking to give 
to its pupils some insight into the history of the 
The value of his- race. This v^ork has been severely 
tory for the girl criticized during the last few 
years, because history has been presented largely as 
a catalogue of dates and names. However, this 
subject is now receiving the constant attention of 
progressive educators ; and already in many schools 
it is being made an attractive, while at the same time 
faithful, account of the life of our predecessors, em- 
phasis being given to the experiences of men in their 
efforts to adjust themselves to one another and to 
nature. Here again is a study of the greatest im- 
portance for the girl as well as for the boy, but 
especially, perhaps, for the girl, because when prop- 
erly presented it will give her a picture of human 
life in its ethical and moral relations, in which she 
should be made particularly interested. The boy is 
better suited to deal with the laws of nature on the 
mathematical and physical side, for which the girl 
is not so well adapted. 

The elementary school in some places, unfor- 
tunately not in most places yet, endeavors to get its 



33^ EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

The study pupils Into rapport with nature, and es- 
of nature pecially with the Hfe of plants and ani- 
mals. No study could be of greater value for the 
girl than this. Her temperament fits her admirably 
to appreciate living nature. Her range of enjoy- 
ment in life will be vastly increased when she is 
helped to feel the great forces that tend forward and 
upward in the world about her. She needs that 
sort of acumen, too, which may come from close 
communion with nature during her plastic years. 
Her mode of life in times gone by made her more 
subject to fear and superstition than has been the 
case with man. The untaught woman is apt to live 
in dread of the phenomena of nature a good part of 
the time. She does not easily think of natural 
events as springing from impersonal causes. She is 
animistic by inheritance. But the daily study of 
nature throughout her educational course should 
replace fear by confidence, and superstition by scien- 
tific insight. The failure of most of our schools to- 
day to give a girl daily experience In tracking out 
the laws of nature in Its varied manifestations con- 
stitutes one of the greatest weaknesses In contempo- 
rary education, and indicates a defect which 
ought to be remedied without delay. These 
subjects the girl must pursue In common with 
her brother in the elementary school. They 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 337 

Vocational constitute the fundamental require- 
training ments, no matter in what particular 
sphere of life the girl may be placed. However, 
many girls must earn their own living, and they 
must begin soon after they leave the elementary 
school, which makes vocational training a necessity. 
But the girl can not get such training during the 
elementary school course. This course is none too 
long for her to acquire the general education which 
is absolutely essential for a well-poised, successful 
life. This suggests a pressing problem which has 
already been taken up in some communities — the 
lengthening of the elementary school period by a 
year or two, which must be devoted to vocational 
training. There can hardly be any doubt that in 
our own country the period of schooling for all chil- 
dren should be lengthened. There is no reason why 
it should not be. The eight-year plan for the ele- 
mentary school can not be regarded as final. There 
is nothing in human society or in nature which re- 
quires that most pupils should cease their school 
work after the completion of the eighth year. In 
the past, economic necessity established eight years 
as the limit of universal compulsory schooling. But 
our financial condition is improving, knowledge 
is increasing by leaps and bounds, and more is being 
constantly demanded of the rising generations in 



33^ EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 

order that they may adapt themselves adequately to 
contemporary civilization. All this means that the 
compulsory school period must be extended for the 
girl, as well as for the boy. 

For those girls who have leisure and means to go 
through the high school into college, the way is 
open to carry forward the lines of work begun in 
the elementary school. The fundamental needs of 
the woman can be ministered to best by art, music, 
history, literature, science, and the subjects that bear 
directly upon social and ethical problems, and the 
problems of home-making in a large sense, special 
importance being given to the care and culture of 
children. No matter how long her interest and her 
economic condition will permit her to continue her 
studies, these great fields will offer attractions to 
her, for it is practically impossible to exhaust them. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 



GOOD ORDER 

1. What can be said for and against the proposition that the 
chief problem in the school-room is to preserve good order? 
First say what "good order" means, specifying concrete details. 

2. Discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of requir- 
ing pupils once or twice each day for five or ten minutes at a 
time to sit erect in their seats, fold their arms, and keep the 
body as quiet as possible, not moving the head, the eyes, or the 
feet. Does it make a difference whether the pupils are in the 
elementary, in the grammar, or in the high school? Does it 
make a difference whether the school is in the city or in the 
country? 

3. What changes have occurred in the methods of securing 
good order in the schools in which you had your training? 
What are the results of these changes on the behavior of 
pupils ? 

4. Describe in concrete detail five actual instances in which 
a teacher caught and held the wandering attention of pupils. 
Point out in each case the educational principle involved. 

5. Should good order in the school-room be maintained pri- 
marily for the benefit of (a) the individual, (b) the class as 
a whole, or (c) the teacher? Discuss in detail. 

6. Describe, as in 4, several actual instances in which a 
teacher failed to hold the attention of pupils. Point out the 
precise reason in each case. 

7. Make a concrete report upon an actual recitation you 
have attended, showing why the class as a whole, or individual 



342 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

members thereof, were Inattentive during the entire period; or 
some part of it. Get at the reason in each case. 

8. Describe a typical school-room in which irrelevant trains 
of thought are frequently suggested. How would you remedy 
the situation? 

9. What are the chief sources of irrelevant trains of 
thought in country schools? In city schools? Is there a dif- 
ference between younger and older children in this respect? 

10. Mention possible objections to the plan of having an in- 
terval of three or five minutes after every recitation or study 
period of twenty minutes in the primary grades, thirty minutes 
in the grammar grades, and forty-five minutes in the high 
school? Are these objections fundamental and vital? 

11. Suggest practicable methods of relieving the tensions of 
pupils without giving them frequent intermissions or relax- 
ing periods. 

12. How can a teacher discriminate between fatigue and 
lack of interest in the school-room? 

13. Suggest how a teacher may discriminate between disor- 
der which is intentional and malicious, and that which is due 
to an overflow of "animal spirits". 

14. Should a teacher stand while engaged in teaching? Say 
why, whatever your answer may be. 

15. Would you seat pupils alphabetically? Would you adopt 
such a plan of seating the first day of school? Give reasons. 

16. List different methods of regulating communication dur- 
ing study hours. Discuss the adaptability of each to different 
grades. 

17. Some of our largest and best high schools have abol- 
ished recesses. Some have instituted a single session daily 
from 8:30 a. m. to 1:00 or 1:15 p. m. without intermissions. 
Discuss the advisability of such an arrangement. 

18. Recently a superintendent was asked to forecast the 
weather. He replied, "A storm is certainly coming, for the 
children act as if possessed." Should disciplinary standards be 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 343 

adjusted to barometric variations? Do you ever feel "mean" 
before a storm? 

19. Do pupils in city schools require as frequent intermis- 
sions or relaxing periods as pupils in rural schools? Do they 
need more of such periods? Why? 

20. What arguments may be offered in favor of and against 
abolishing all recesses in schools of all grades, in the city and 
in the country? 

21. Discuss the plan proposed in some places of keeping 
schools in session throughout the year, with one-week inter- 
missions at quarterly divisions of the year. 

22. Discuss the plan of lengthening the school-day by add- 
ing one or two hours, pointing out the advantages and the dis- 
advantages of such a scheme. 

23. Point out characteristics in a teacher which tend to 
incite disorder in a school. In the same way point out charac- 
teristics which have the effect of encouraging good order. 
Can these characteristics be modified by training, or by volun- 
tary effort on the part of the teacher ? Have you known teach- 
ers who have corrected traits of personality which were a 
handicap to them in the school-room? 

24. Suggest feasible and effective ways in which a teacher 
may get rid of his own tensions which follow upon arduous 
work in the school-room, to the end that he may not incite 
disorder in his pupils by overstimulating or irritating them. 

25. Does a long vacation, extending over two or three 
months, help a pupil to give prolonged and concentrated atten- 
tion to the work of the school in the autumn? Discuss the 
principle or principles involved, and make practical applica- 
tions to the every-day work of the school. 

26. Describe concrete cases of pupils who are disorderly 
because of physical defects or deficiencies. How would you 
remedy the defects? 

27. Comment on the part that skilful questioning by the 
teacher plays in determining attention and good order on the 



344 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

part of the class. Indicate what Is meant by "skilful question- 
ing", and give a few concrete examples in illustration of it. 

28. May most children above the fourth grade be allowed, 
without asking permission, to move quietly about the school- 
room when necessary, or even to leave the room for a brief 
time? 

29. When pupils are passing from their regular recitation- 
room into another part of the building for manual or gym- 
nastic work, for example, should they be given freedom to 
move in irregular groups, and engage in conversation, if not 
boisterous or unduly noisy? Or should they be compelled to 
march in a definite order, and with military precision, without 
any communication whatever? 

30. Is it probable that the utilizing of the school-house as 
the civic and social center of the community will simplify the 
problems of good order in the school? Why? 

II 

DISCIPLINE 

1. Describe the behavior in school of a boy who has been 
"spoiled", as you regard the matter. Describe the behavior of 
a girl who has been "spoiled". Do they get more out of life 
than their associates do ? Give concrete evidence in support of 
your view. How should they be treated by the teacher? By 
their associates? Why? 

2. Give an account of the early training of a boy or a girl 
who seems to be in conflict much of the time with his parents, 
his teacher, and his associates. In your opinion, could the in- 
dividual have been trained so that he would now adjust him- 
self easily to people about him? How? 

3. Discuss the advisability of children appearing in public 
at an early age under circumstances marked by great popular 
approbation, as on Children's Day, etc. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 345 

4. Are country children more frequently "spoiled" than are 
city children? Or is it the other way around? What is the 
evidence upon which your answer is based? 

5. Have you ever seen a dog or a horse or a kitten which 
has been "spoiled" ? Have you seen one "cured" of its faults ? 
How? 

6. Are problems of discipline more serious and difficult in 
American homes and schools now than they were twenty-five 
years ago, say? Or is the reverse true? If any changes in 
this respect are taking place, show what forces are producing 
them? How is it in the community in which you spent your 
childhood? 

7. Describe the intellectual, social, ethical, and physical 
traits of a boy or girl who is a favorite with his parents or his 
teacher. Is he to be congratulated upon being a favorite? 
[Why? 

8. Are influential parents as a rule more eager to have their 
children shown special favors than teachers are eager to favor 
them? 

9. Is the proportion of men teachers in rural schools in- 
creasing, or is it becoming less? Why? With what results 
in respect to the training of boys especially? 

10. Most of the teachers in city schools are women. In 
the vast majority of elementary schools, there are no men at 
all. Has it been or can it be shown that definite evils in such 
schools are due to the absence of masculine influence? Do 
not be satisfied with a mere conventional answer to this ques- 
tion ; in some way, get at the actual facts in the case. 

11. Have you known women teachers who' could discipline 
boys better than the typical male teacher could do? If so, 
describe these women, and show what methods they employed. 
Do men teachers get along with girl students as well as 
women teachers do? 

12. According to your experience, are athletic teachers bet- 



346 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

ter disciplinarians than others? Comment on the facts as you 
find them. 

13. "My science teacher one morning said: 'G — and J — 
came late to class again this morning, and I told them yester- 
day that I would send them back to the study hall the next 
time it happened.' 'Did you send them?' I asked. 'No,' said 
he, 'but if they are late to-morrow, I'll send them out for a 
week.' This teacher dealt out the heaviest penalties in our 
entire faculty, and had by all odds the worst discipline." Did 
you ever know of a similar instance ? How would you explain 
the case? 

14. Is there any direct relation between personal attractive- 
ness in the teacher, and successful teaching and discipline? 
In your own experience, did the matter of appearance and 
dress play any large part in determining your attitude toward 
your favorite teacher? 

15. Ought any form of school work to be made a punish- 
ment for a pupil's misconduct? Be specific. 

16. What artificial standards of conduct might the school set 
up by a too rigid insistence upon rules against whispering, 
moving about the room, and others of like import? Is this 
likely to lead to confusion in the child's mind regarding rela- 
tive values in moral conduct? Make a list of ten school-room 
offenses, and point out those that have in them a moral or 
ethical aspect, and those that have not. 

17. Is it ever advisable to allow boys to settle their quar- 
rels on the school grounds by fistic contest? Comment on 
Dr. G. Stanley Hall's view: "I would have every healthy boy 
taught boxing at adolescence, if not before." 

18. Describe five cases of correction of pupils in which the 
principle of suggestion was employed effectively. Describe any 
case you may know in which the principle was not successful. 

19. Describe one or more instances in which the use of cor- 
poral punishment as a means of correction proved to be (1) 
effective, or (2) an injury to the child. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 347 

20. When, If ever, should corporal punishment be adminis- 
tered in the presence of an entire school? 

21. Assuming that children differ greatly in temperament, 
training, and experience, is it possible in any school to use 
the same means of correction, or to apply the same rules of 
conduct to each individual ? If not possible, how is the teacher 
to escape the charge of favoritism? 

22. Is Spencer's theory of "natural" punishment for miscon- 
duct feasible under ordinary school conditions? Illustrate with 
concrete instances. 

23. In meting out punishment to an offender against good 
order in the school-room, what is the fundamental principle in- 
volved ; — that the child must be corrected for his own good, or 
because his conduct is opposed to the welfare of the school as 
a whole? Are these two ends antagonistic in the final out- 
come? 

24. Comment on the principle laid down by Bagley, that 
"Punishment should not be used for the purpose of 'making 
an example'." 

25. Is the following advice by Locke ever applicable to 
school-room situations? "Pay no attention to those faults in 
children that time is bound to cure." Mention a few of such 
faults. 

26. Discuss the matter of preventing undesirable activities 
or actual misconduct in the school-room by substituting for the 
routine work of the school some other form of activity. Sug- 
gest some feasible and desirable substitutes. 

27. Ought the school, as far as possible, to secure good con- 
duct by removing incitements or opportunities for wrong-do- 
ing; or ought it to give the pupil a chance to exercise choice 
in matters of conduct? 

28. Is it proper to punish pupils for inattention? If so, 
suggest the circumstances under which it may be done, and the 
types of punishment that may be appropriate. 



348 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

29. Ought a pupil ever to be sent home from school for mis- 
conduct, or kept in at recess, or after school? 

Ill 

FAIR PLAY BETWEEN TEACHER AND PUPILS 

1. Take five actual cases of school-room discipline, and show 
whether the point of view of the teacher and of the pupil was 
the same or different in each case. Would you have treated 
the pupil differently in any or in all these cases? Why? 

2. Describe five cases of unjust school-room discipline, and 
point out why each was unjust. What was the effect of such 
discipline on the pupil? Why? 

3. Is it easier or is it more difiicult to administer discipline 
without injustice in city as contrasted with country schools? 
Why? Give typical concrete instances to illustrate the prin- 
ciple. 

4. Can one rely upon a pupil's statement as to whether or 
not his teacher deals with him fairly? Does it make any dif- 
ference whether the pupil is in the primary school, the gram- 
mar school, or the high school? 

5. Describe in detail two or three instances in which a 
teacher solved difficult problems of discipline by securing the 
cooperation of pupils. 

6. Should the attitude of the teacher toward his pupils be 
one of authority, or one of good-fellowship? Are the two at- 
titudes antagonistic? 

7. Should the teacher encourage pupils to criticize one an- 
other in the class-room in respect to either work or behavior? 
What are the advantages and the disadvantages of this? 

8. According to your observations, do teachers as a rule 
appeal to the sense of fair play in respect to the government of 
the school, alike in the class-room and on the playground? 
Comment on the situation as you find it. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 349 

9. Do women teachers govern their schools by securing the 
cooperation of their pupils more largely than men teachers do? 
Or is the reverse true? Why? 

10. Is the sense of fair play as keen in country as in city 
schools? Give concrete evidence in support of your view, 
and suggest an explanation for the facts in the case. 

11. How may a teacher use the sense of group loyalty to 
advantage in the government of the school? Can a teacher 
succeed in governing his school if the group as a whole resists 
his authority? Cite typical cases to illustrate the principle. 

12. What traditions in a community may turn a group of 
pupils against a teacher without any fault of the latter? Is it 
the same in the city as in the country? How might a teacher 
deal successfully with such a situation? 

13. Describe two or three actual cases in which a teacher 
lost the respect of his pupils. Could this tragedy have been 
avoided? 

14. Discuss the matter of allowing a bright pupil to raise 
his hand continually in recitation, indicating his ability to an- 
swer a question no matter to whom it is addressed. 

15. Point out the results in the kindergarten of having the 
teacher enter into all the plays and other activities of the 
children. 

16. Is the problem of holding the respect of pupils more 
serious in the high school than in the elementary school? If 
so, v^^hy? Is it more serious in the country than in the city? 

17. Mention several school-room situations in which a 
teacher should impress a pupil with his shortcomings. Men- 
tion several situations also in which a pupil would be injured 
by keeping his failings constantly before him. 

18. Discuss this proposition: "A child can not grow in 
strength, intellectual or moral, unless he is made sensitive to 
his deficiencies, and is urged unceasingly to overcome them." 

19. Do pupils respect a teacher who habitually praises them 
for their conduct and their work as much as they respect 



350 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

one who habitually criticizes them sharply for their errors 
and failures? 

20. If possible, read The Young Barbarians, by Ian Mac- 
Laren, and in view of the principles presented in this chapter, 
discuss the several types of teachers portrayed in the book. 
Read The Hoosier Schoolmaster also, and comment on the 
type of teacher presented therein. 

21. Describe a concrete case in which censure or punish- 
ment of a pupil before his fellows was wholesome and effect- 
ive, alike for himself and for his associates. Describe a case 
in which contrary results followed public correction. Why in 
each instance? 

22. Do you know a teacher who can govern a school with- 
out making any prohibitions regarding communication? If so, 
describe her methods. 

23. Discuss the following statement made by a school prin- 
cipal : "I used formerly to say to my teachers, *Be partial al- 
ways.' Was my advice proper? Can it be followed when pen- 
alties are laid down explicitly in advance for every sort of 
misdem'eanor?" 

24. Discuss the following: "I asked a very reliable high- 
school boy what per cent, of his fellows would lie to a teacher 
when driven into a corner. He said, 'Eighty per cent.' His 
answer in my opinion was altogether too high, unless he was 
thinking of special teachers." Will pupils lie to some teachers 
more readily than to others? Why? 

25. The boys of a school were called together by the princi- 
pal. He said: "Boys, the great majority of you use and en- 
joy the dressing-room; but I can not longer tolerate certain 
misconduct connected with its use. I have no time to chase 
down the culprits, but I will lock the room if it seems neces- 
sary." Was an injustice done to the majority who were 
innocent ? 

26. "I visited the Junior class of an English teacher to hear 
the scheduled debate. The class, with one exception, for fear 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 351 

of the visitor perhaps, reported 'Not prepared.' After I left 
the room, the humiliated teacher administered a savage 
'tongue-lashing' to the pupils. A, parent or two were highly 
offended, and one of the girls a year after graduation com- 
plained that this teacher was 'still telling lies about us'." 
What should the teacher have done In this case? 

27. Give instances in which you think a scolding adminis- 
tered to a school as a whole will prove wholesome and bene- 
ficial. May it be a good tonic for individual pupils at times? 

28. Is it advisable to post up conspicuously the names of 
pupils who have failed in any school exercise, or who have 
been remiss in meeting school obligations? Comment on the 
practice in vogue in some schools of giving badges or em- 
blems to Individual pupils because of excellence in school 
work. What different element enters into the case when a 
trophy is won by a school team for victory in basket-ball or 
debating? 

29. As a rule is there greater cooperation betweens pupils 
and teachers of manual training, domestic science, and gym- 
nastics than between the same pupils and their instructors in 
other branches? If so, account for the difference. 

30. Ought teachers in the high school to make a definite 
concerted effort to come into social relations with their pupils 
outside of school hours? Suggest some ways by which this 
can be accomplished. Comment on the desirability of having 
regular high-school dances, supervised by the teachers. 

31. In any group of school children above the primary 
grades, what proportion will be well-disposed toward school- 
room conventions and ready to cooperate with the teacher? 
What proportion will probably be in a defiant attitude ? What 
proportion will be Indifferent, and ready to take sides either 
way. Toward which of these groups ought the tact and skill 
of the teacher mainly to be directed ? 

32. From what kind of homes for the most part do children 
come who are noticeably deficient in the attitude of fair play 



352 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

both toward the teacher and toward fellow-pupils? Is nation- 
ality a factor in determining this attitude? 

33. What opportunity do written examinations, especially 
when made the test of promotion, afford for fair play on the 
part of both teacher and pupil? Do they as easily lend them- 
selves to opportunities for unfairness on both sides? 

IV 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 

1. It is frequently said that young children, under eight 
years of age or so, can not think. Do you agree with this view ? 
Why? If you believe that such children can think, give con- 
crete examples illustrating the principle. 

2. Give concrete examples — at least one in each case- 
showing how a child might think in dealing (1) with his doll; 
(2) with his pet dog; (3) with a brother or sister; (4) in in- 
terpreting something that is said to him by his mother; (5) in 
a problem involved in repairing a broken toy. 

3. Show how a lesson might be given on the history of 
the community in which you live that would require pupils to 
think in an effective manner. Indicate how the lesson could 
be conducted so that pupils would not be required to think at 
all in a true sense. 

4. Suppose you are required to teach the history of the com- 
munity in which you live, so that your pupils may be able to 
think clearly and effectively when they are confronted with 
any problem of civic improvement; mention five principal 
topics which you would treat in such a course in history. 
How would you treat these topics? 

5. Suggest a method of leading pupils to think accurately 
regarding the relations which should exist between the people 
of a community and the public utility corporations therein. 

6. Present outlines of lessons designed to lead pupils to 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 353 

think straight on the following topics pertaining to the govern- 
ment of the community in which they live : (a) the abandon- 
ment of all private wells in the community; (b) requiring 
plans for new buildings to be indorsed by a municipal in- 
spector of buildings before they can be carried out; (c) re- 
quiring that no person may erect a building so close to the 
edge of his lot that he must borrow air and light from adjoin- 
ing lots; (d) giving a board of public works the right to im- 
prove any street in a city, and requiring the property abutting 
thereupon to pay for the improvement. 

7. Comment on the methods followed in the text-books in 
history which you studied in the elementary school; also in 
the high school. Comment in the same way on the books you 
studied in civil government, or civics. 

8. Take some definite topic in history, say the passage of the 
fugitive slave law. Suppose the text-book to state, as usual, 
the time of passage of the bill and its provisions. Set three 
problems which you think would be appropriate for a sixth- 
grade class. 

9. Which would you favor for civic training in the high 
school, the organization of a mimic house of representatives, 
or the orderly conduct of the affairs of the athletic association 
in the school ? 

10. Comment on the following proposition taken from an 
educational book: "There is one study in the elementary 
school curriculum which is especially well fitted to teach pupils 
to reason, and this is arithmetic." 

11. Suggest a feasible and effective method of training a 
pupil so that he may be able on his own initiative to correct 
his errors in spelling; also in grammar. 

12. "A pupil will remember what he himself has done, not 
what he has simply looked at or listened to." Show how this 
principle applies to good memory in (a) history; (b) rhetoric; 
(c) reading; (d) Latin; (e) French; (f) physics. 

13. Comment on the efficiency of the following method: 



354 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

"On the day of the last presidential election, I tried the plan 
of holding at the high school with which I was connected an 
exact imitation of the original. All students, down through 
the fifth grade, voted. Students acted as election officers in 
every detail. The election was preceded by registration, rival 
rallies, etc.. I followed it with the meeting of presidential 
electors at the capitol in due season, and the final canvass at 
Washington." 

14. Give some concrete examples of methods by which pu- 
pils may be made to feel that what is being done in school will 
be of practical value in the needs of daily life in maturity. 

15. Point out some ways in which school-room play may be 
utilized to train children to think. 

16. Is the ordinary written examination, especially when 
made the test of promotion, a means of cultivating the power 
to think? May it be made such a means? If so, show spe- 
cifically how it can be so utilized. 

17. Comment on the practice of compelling pupils in the 
upper grades and in the high school to keep note-books in all 
subjects, these note-books being carefully filled out under the 
teacher's direction, and regularly inspected and marked. 

18. Does the topical recitation, especially in grades below 
the high school, contribute to thinking ability, or does it call 
on memory only? Discuss the several forms of recitation 
from this standpoint. 

19. Show how the use of pictures in history, literature, and 
geography may be made to contribute to definite thinking on 
the part of children. Are motion pictures better for this pur- 
pose than lantern or stereoscopic views? Why? 

20. Contrast the two following methods in teaching a sixth- 
grade geography class the nature and origin of soil : 

(a) The following questions were asked: "What is soil?" 
"Name some of the kinds." "What is weathering?" "Ero- 
sion?" "Corrosive agent?" "Define denudation." "What is 
the disintegration of rocks?" 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 355 

(b) The pupils were taken on a trip to a stone quarry. 
There they saw the formation of the soil actually going on. 
They noted the differences in hardness, compactness, and color 
between the upper and the lower layers ; the gradual gradation 
from solid to less solid rock, to rock waste, and then to soil. 
The relation of the rock to soil was unmistakable. The con- 
tribution of plants, air, and water to the formation of soil 
received concrete illustration. Then the class took up the 
discussion of the subject in the text. 

21. Comment on the following instance of geology teach- 
ing: "A teacher in physical geography giving a lesson on 
rocks, brought his specimens to class, and lectured on them, 
holding up each kind to view as he talked. At the end of the 
period he carried away the rocks, and at the next recitation 
upbraided the pupils when they failed to recognize the various 
specimens when he again held them up." 

22. Comment on this example of English teaching: "A 
second-year class in the high school was reading the Sir 
Roger de Coverly papers. The command was given: 'Point 
out the satire on page — .' A hand went up: — 'What is satire?' 
Teacher: — 'How many know what satire is?' No one re- 
sponded. Teacher: — 'Who can write satire on the board?' 
A child responded, was sent to the board, and wrote 'satyr'. 
The teacher then sent a pupil to the dictionary to see how 
'satire' was spelled, and he happened on the right form. At 
her request, he read the definition of the word, which was 
probably meaningless to the class. Without any comment the 
teacher said, 'I hope to-morrow you will all know what "sat- 
ire" means 1'" 



356 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

V 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK — Concluded 

1. What studies taught you in the elementary or in the 
high school do you remember most vividly and fully at this 
time ? Try to account for the fact as you find it. 

2. What studies or topics which you pursued in the elemen- 
tary or in the high school have been largely forgotten? Ex- 
plain the matter in detail. 

3. Take a study like grammar, and mention principles 
taught you in the elementary school which have remained with 
you without becoming obscured. Are you aware of having 
forgotten some of the principles you learned in this subject? 
Look up the matter in a grammatical text-book, and say why 
you have remembered some principles, while others have been 
forgotten. 

4. Discuss the subjects of rhetoric, algebra, geometry, and 
German according to the directions given in exercise 3 for the 
discussion of grammar. 

5. What proportion of what you learned in geography in the 
elementary school have you forgotten? Take what you know 
about the products of different countries, and of different sec- 
tions of our own country, and try to determine whether this 
knowledge was gained in school, or in some other manner. 
Comment upon the results of your inquiry viewed in the light 
of the discussion in chapter V of the text. 

6. Show how you could lead pupils thirteen 5^ears of age, or 
thereabouts, who live east of the Mississippi River, to think 
straight regarding the extraordinary development of the city of 
North Yakima, in Washington. Keep in mind that a very few 
years ago the entire Yakima Valley was a sage-brush desert. 

7. Comment on the following in view of the principles de- 
veloped in chapters IV and V of the text : "I propose to have 
the children of Mississippi taught the geography of the state 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 357 

by having them start with the study of cotton. I will have 
them work back from the cotton crop to soil, climate, etc., and 
forward to transportation, location of cities, etc." 

8. When a certain pupil in the seventh grade first encoun- 
tered the word "genuine", he pronounced it "gentnne". How 
would you make him take the initiative in correcting his mis- 
take? 

9. Show in detail how you would lead a pupil to take the 
initiative mainly or wholly in demonstrating the proposition, — 
"The sum of the interior angles of a triangle equals two right 
angles." 

10. A mother was observed "helping" her eight-year-old 
child to prepare his reading lesson for school. Whenever the 
boy hesitated at a new word, the mother would pronounce it 
for him, he would repeat it after her, and go on to new difficul- 
ties. Comment on the efficiency of this method. 

11. A father was observed "helping" a boy in the sixth 
grade to learn some definitions. The teacher asked the boy 
to look up the words assigned in the dictionary, and learn the 
definitions. The father assisted the boy to find the words. The 
former read the definitions to the latter, and decided which 
definition had best be chosen in each case. Then he required 
the boy to repeat the definition until he had memorized it. 
What do you think of this method? 

12. Suppose a beginner in Latin, coming upon the word 
tempus, can not recall what it means. Indicate how you would 
lead him to work out the meaning. 

13. Comment on the following lesson in geography, given 
to a class in the fifth grade : 

With four different maps on the wall, and with the aid of 
past lessons, the teacher derived the following facts about 
India from pupils who had never before had a lesson on that 
country, and who had as yet not been assigned a lesson on it 
in the text: (a) That India is in the hot belt, extending nearly 
to the equator, (b) That it is in the belt of trade winds, (c) 



358 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

That rainfall is slight in winter, for the monsoons are out- 
ward-flowing winter winds ; and that the rainfall is very heavy 
in summer, for the monsoons are inzuard-flowing summer 
winds, (d) That the heaviest rainfall is on the slopes of the 
Himalayas because the winds laden with moisture are cooled 
by the air of the mountains and produce rain, (e) That the 
rainfall on the slopes of the Himalayas furnishes water to two 
rivers, (f) That the valleys of these two rivers are fertile, 
hence densely populated, (g) That the coast-line is very reg- 
ular, hence few good harbors, (h) That the products will be 
those of a hot moist climate, viz. : cotton, spices, etc. 

14. Is the following testimony from a man, now principal 
of a high school, quite exceptional, or is it typical : 

"In the fifth grade we began the study of physiology. We 
were supplied with a text-book full of definitions, and contain- 
ing also pictures that filled me with horror when I first 
looked at them; — pictures of men with their body walls slit 
open, and turned back to reveal the internal structure. At 
class we were called on, and rattled off as many definitions as 
we could; so long as we were not required to explain them we 
were all right. It makes me smile to think of the queer ideas 
I got from this study. For instance, I learned that 'The ef- 
fect of alcohol on the nervous system is that it deadens it and 
upsets it.' My conception of the deadening was that the brain 
died, and remained decayed in one's head." 

15. The following state examinations were set recently in 
different states. Comment on each question from the stand- 
point of its suitability to encourage pupils to study and teach- 
ers to instruct with a view to developing the power of thought 
in the subjects covered. In certain cases two examinations 
in the same subject are presented, so that you may compare 
them in respect to their relative value. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 359 

PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 

95. (a) Describe an experiment with an animal 
membrane to illustrate osmosis. (6) (b) Mention 
two examples of osmosis in the human body essential 
to the continuation of life. (4) 

96. (a) Discuss the necessity of a mixed diet. (4) 
(b) Make a list of food articles for a dinner that 
would insure a mixed diet, giving the nutritive value 
of each food mentioned. (6) 

97. (a) Make a drawing of the alimentary canal, 
indicating each part (4) (b) Give hygienic direc- 
tions that should be observed in eating and give a 
reason for the observance of each. (6) 

98. (a) Give the number and the position of each 
of the different kinds of teeth in a full adult set. (6) 
(b) State the main cause of the decay of teeth and 
the best method of preserving teeth that are partially 

decayed. (4) 

99. (a) Name and locate the valves of the heart, (o) 

Describe the action of one set of the valves of the 

heart. (4) • • /.x 

100. (a) State the necessity of respiration. (4} 
(b) Describe an experiment you have observed to 
illustrate the normal action of the chest and the 
diaphragm in breathing. (6) 

101. State the effect of the habitual use of alco- 
hohc drink (a) on digestion, (5) (b) on the nerves. 

102. (a) State the importance of getting rid of the 
wastes of the body. (4) (b) Mention three waste 
products of oxidation in the body and state how each 
is eliminated from the body. (6) 

103. (a) Compare the structure and the method of 
control of the voluntary muscles with the structure 
and the method of control of the involuntary mus- 



36o EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

cles. (6) Mention (b) two important voluntary 
muscles and (c) two important involuntary mus- 
cles. (4) 

104. Describe the proper treatment (a) of a burn, 
(b) of a fracture. (10) 

105. (a) State the dangers of dust. (4) (b) De- 
scribe proper methods of sweeping and dusting. (6) 

106. Give iive practical suggestions for the care of 
the eyes. (10) 

107. Describe adaptation of structure to function 
in each of the following: (a) spinal column, (5) (b) 
shoulder joint. (5) 

Or 

108. Describe the gross structure and state the 
chief function (a) of the brain, (5) (b) of the spinal 
cord. (5) 

109. Describe experiments you have observed to 
show the presence (a) of proteid, (5) (b) of fat. (5) 

PHYSIOLOGY 

1. Explain in full how muscles are fastened to the 
bones. 2. What is the value of absorption? Explain 
by examples. 3. Name and locate the bones of the 
skull. 4. How does reflex action aid a person in 
walking? Explain reflex action. 5. Explain the con- 
struction of the heart by diagram or otherwise. 6. 
Name all the digestive juices, and the function of 
each. 7. Explain your method of ventilation in a 
school-house. 8. Name four texts on Physiology, and 
designate the one you teach. 9. What is the function 
of the kidneys? 10. Distinguish between contagious 
and infectious diseases. 

AGRICULTURE 

1. Name (a) three distinct breeds of dairy cows 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 361 

and (b) three of beef cattle, and indicate the coloring 
of each of these breeds. (6) 

2. What is the typical distinction between dairy 
and beef cattle in respect to (a) form, (b) tempera- 
ment, (c) suitable ration? (6) 

3. What is the most obvious difference between 
the teeth and between the digestive processes of cows 
and horses? (4) 

4. State precisely the precautions that must be 
taken from cow to consumer, to keep milk clean, (6) 

5. Name (a) three breeds of hens that are noted 
for laying, (b) three noted for meat production, (c) 
three noted for general utility. (9) 

6. Describe a suitable house for hens in respect to 

(a) location, (b) light, (c) ventilation, (d) fixtures, 
(e) construction materials. (A lettered drawing can 
be used to advantage.) (10) 

7. Name £ve common birds of New York and 
state definitely in what respects they are useful or 
harmful to agricultural interests. (5) 

K 8. Distinguish between the robin and the English 
sparrow in respect to (a) color markings, (b) food, 
(c) nesting habits. (6) 

9. Name a gnawing insect harmful to crops, that 
■you have specially studied, describing (a) its size, 

(b) its color markings, (c) its method of travel, (d) 
the distinctive stages of its life history, (e) the stage 
in which it is most destructive, (f) how it is best 
controlled. (12) 

10. Name ten common forest trees with which you 
are acquainted and make a model outline describing 
one of them so as to identify it to a pupil or teach- 
er. (5) 

11. How do you distinguish between a maple and 



362 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

an apple tree in respect to (a) height, (b) bark, (c) 
seed production? (5) 

12. Name from one to three varieties of each of 
the fruits commonly grown in New York. Under- 
score those that are commercially most important in 
your county (named). (5) 

13. How is corn pollenized? (b) What is the 
botanic function of the "silk" of corn? (c) How 
many silks are there, approximately, on an ear of 
flint corn? (d) of dent corn? (5) 

14. Explain three reasons for tilling the soil to 
promote the growth of crops. (6) (b) How would 
you destroy two noxious weeds that are prevalent in 
this state? (4) 

15. (a) Name three legume crops commonly 
grown in New York, (b) Which is most valuable? 
Why? (6) 

16. How should school work in agriculture be re- 
lated to the agricultural conditions, resources and 
interests of the local community? Illustrate by ref- 
erence to some definite section or county in this state. 
'(Write about three hundred words.) (20) 

17. Outline the plan you would pursue in assist- 
ing teachers to develop a cooperative interest be- 
tween the school and the community in improving 
agricultural knowledge and practice. (Write about 
three hundred words.) (20) 

18. What natural instincts and educational incen- 
tives may be appealed to in the teaching of agricul- 
ture? (10) 

19. Outline a practical field or garden experiment 
in one of the following types: (1) testing fertilizers, 
(2) spraying, (3) ear-to-row testing, (4) hill selec- 
tion, (5) treating seed for scab, smut, etc. (15) (b) 
For what grades would this experiment be suitable? 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 363 

(5) (c) Does the experiment illustrate the prin- 
ciple of using a "check" or "control"? (5) 

20. (a) Outline a suitable program for a district 
teachers' meeting at which the teaching of agricul- 
ture is to be discussed. (15) (b) What agencies 
within the state can be called on to furnish speakers 
on agricultural topics for teachers' meetings? If 
possible, specify a particular topic and name a person 
qualified to discuss it. (6) (c) What agencies with- 
in and without the state can be called on to assist in 
establishing a working library for the teaching of ag- 
riculture? (4) 

AGRICULTURE 

1. What advantages do you see in teaching agri- 
culture in high schools? 2. Outline your idea of how 
agriculture should be taught in high schools. 3. De- 
fine the following terms : Mulch, green fodder, green 
manure, gypsum and nodules. 4. Explain the system 
of dry farming. Where is this system used? 5. 
What is the San Jose scale? How should trees be 
treated that are afflicted with this scale ? 6. What are 
insecticides? Name two. 7. How many pounds of 
the following seeds make a bushel in Ohio: Wheat, 
oats, corn, potatoes, and beans ? 8. Who is the State 
Supervisor of Agriculture in your district? What 
are his duties? 9. What is the Babcock milk test? 
How is this test made ? 10. For what purpose is the 
Bordeaux mixture used? How is this mixture pre- 
pared ? 

AGRICULTURE 

1. What advantages do you see in teaching agri- 
culture in the rural schools ? 2. Outline your idea of 
how agriculture should be taught in the elementary 
schools. 3. Define the following terms : Subsoil, hu- 



364 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

mus, ensilage, formalin, and seedling. 4. What Is 
meant by propagation of plants ? Explain the process 
of layering. 5. Explain the process of fertilization in 
corn. 6. What have Dr. S. M. Babcock and Luther 
Burbank done to promote agriculture? 7. What is 
meant by a model farm? A model farmer? 8. Give 
five rules that you would observe in transplanting a 
tree. 9. Name five varieties of trees that are suitable 
for planting on school grounds. Why are these suit- 
able? 10. Who is the State Supervisor of Agricul- 
ture in your district? What are his duties? 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

1. Write about the work of the recent special ses- 
sion of our National Congress. 2. Give the duties, 
term and salary of a member of the Supreme Court. 
Of a congressman. 3. In what ways have English 
laws and customs affected our laws and government? 
4. Name some great national compromises and tell 
what were the issues that were involved. 5. Write 
briefly of the government of a township. 6. Define 
eminent domain, patent, copyright, bill of attainder, 
party government. 7. What limits the powers of 
congress? What authority is the final interpreter of 
the acts of congress? 8. Mention all the sources of 
state revenue. Name the items of expenditure. 9. 
Describe the different ways in which a bill may be- 
come a law. 

PHYSICS 

1. Name and define five properties of matter. 2. 
What is the difference between inertia and momen- 
tum? Between mass and weight? 3. Draw and ex- 
plain the siphon. 4. Draw and explain the still. 5. 
Define sound, music, refraction, critical angle, work, 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 365 

and focal length of a convex lens. 6. Describe how 
you test for two kinds of electrification. 7. How 
does the dynamo produce an electrical current? 8. 
Give the theory of heat. 9. Describe with a diagram, 
the microscope. 10. How may it be shown that air 
has weight? That it has elasticity? That it has 
compressibility? 

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING 

1. Define consciousness, memory, imagination, per- 
cept, concept, and sense-perception. What psychical 
elements are involved in sense-perception? 2. What 
would be the condition of the man with only presenta- 
tive and representative powers? Distinguish between 
corporal and psychical feelings and state what is in- 
cluded in each. 3. Define and distinguish between 
intellectual power and skill. Distinguish clearly be- 
tween science and art in teaching. How do you com- 
ply with the law in reference to scientific temper- 
ance instruction? 4. What do you understand by the 
term "common sense didactics"? Define good dis- 
cipline and state some of the ways by which it may 
be secured. What is the relation between interest 
and attention? 5. State the most essential factors in 
the school and then the most essential elements with- 
in the factors stated. Define habit and state how 
they (sic) may be cultivated and controlled. 

VI 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 

1. In learning to ride a bicycle, would it be well for a boy 
to practise each elementary process for several weeks before 
he should attempt to execute the complex act? Will he make 
greater progress if he endeavors to ride from the beginning? 



S66 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

2. In learning to whistle, would it be advisable for a child 
to master the elements of the act before trying the act itself? 
Why? 

3. Discuss the following: "In order that one may think 
clearly and effectively, he must have such command of the 
means of expression that he can employ them without con- 
scious effort." Does the child's thinking power grow parallel 
with his acquisition of the instruments of expression so that 
they can be used automatically? 

4. If the principle presented in Exercise 3 be a sound one, 
show how it applies to the mastery of the native tongue in its 
spoken form. Is the sequence in one's thought apt to be 
broken when he can not easily find words in which to express 
himself? Why? 

5. State in exact detail the processes in consciousness when 
a child is striving to express a thought, but he can not remem- 
ber the appropriate words therefor, nor can he portray the 
thought through gesture. 

6. If you are an American, and have studied a foreign lan- 
guage, say whether you can think clearly and effectively when 
you attempt to express yourself in the foreign tongue. De- 
scribe your experience in detail. 

7. Would it be of assistance to a pupil in learning to spell 
to write words always very slowly and carefully, pronouncing 
each letter while writing it? Why? 

8. Would it be of advantage to a pupil in learning to spell 
to analyze each word phonically before writing it? 

9. Would it be a good method in teaching spelling to re- 
quire pupils to write all their words with proper diacritical 
markings ? 

10. What method would you advocate in the study of a 
spelling lesson by a class of twenty pupils in order to make 
the strongest appeal to different types of imagery? 

11. Will it assist a pupil in learning to speak a foreign 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 367 

tongue to write out all the words he uses, keeping his speak- 
ing and writing ability parallel ? 

12. Suppose a pupil is required to learn a selection to be 
recited before the school. Should he devote most of the time 
at his disposal to writing it? Why? 

13. If a pupil were preparing himself for a position as book- 
keeper in a grocery store where he would need constantly to 
perform multiplication processes, would it be most advanta- 
geous for him constantly to recite the multiplication tables 
orally in school? Why? What place should so-called "mental 
arithmetic" have in his preparatory training? 

14. Do you now write the same style of hand that you 
were taught when you were a pupil in the elementary school? 
If not, what led you to change? 

15. Which should be emphasized at the outset of a child's 
learning handwriting, — neatness and technical accuracy, or 
speed and automatic execution? Can neatness and speed be 
secured at the same time? 

16. Should a left-handed pupil be made to use his right hand 
when writing? Why? 

17. Are our neatest writers our clearest and most original 
thinkers? Give definite, concrete instances to illustrate your 
answer. 

18. Is there any correlation between the quality of the hand- 
writing and the mental attainments of pupils in the elemen- 
tary school? In the high school? Nothing but concrete evi- 
dence will be acceptable in answer to this question. 

19. Do you think a child would master the technique in a 
subject like penmanship if the teacher paid little attention to 
the matter? Would he acquire it as he acquires the mother 
tongue, — ^by imitation? 

20. Comment on the following lesson in writing: "Copy- 
books, pens, and ink were distributed. The teacher then began 
to count. At one the pupils opened their copy-books; two 



36S EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

picked up their pens ; three dipped them in the ink. Then the 
teacher began again to count one, two, etc., and each pupil 
wrote one letter for each count." 

21. Comment on this examination in orthography: 

1. Define censor, accumulate, decease, gentian, feud. 
2. Mark so as to show proper pronunciation: Force, usage, 
apricot, cyclone, auricle, route, lose, deference, calendar, and 
fairy. 3. Define sufKx and give two or more rules for the 
use of suffixes. 4. What is a word? What is the science of 
words? 5. When would you have the pupils learn correct 
pronunciation? How teach it to them? How teach pupils to 
break up the habit of pronouncing a word wrong ? 6-10. Spell : 
Gauge, cymbal, acquaint, helm, irrevocable, disguised, perse- 
vere, suburb, ensuing, onyx, laboratory, besiege, essentials, in- 
tuitive, encore, semester, vitiate, piracy, transact, spinach, 
lyceum, rivalry, prejudice, rhythm, irrelevant 

22. Comment on the practice in vogue in some schools of 
giving all pupils written examinations in music. 

23. Should girls taking sewing in grades below the high 
school be required to draft patterns of ever3^hing they make 
before they begin the actual making of a garment? Discuss 
the principle involved. 

24. What can be said for the plan of requiring children be- 
low the fifth grade to make raffia baskets? 

25. In a certain school, sewing was begun for the girls in 
the fourth grade. Each girl was required during that year 
to complete a canvas bag, upon which was worked in color all 
the various stitches that are ever used in sewing. No other 
sewing was done in school during the year, and the satisfac- 
tory completion of the bag was made a requirement for pro- 
motion. Comment on the value of this work. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 369 
VII 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE — Concluded 

1. Comment on the following: "I like to see a person in- 
terpret music in his own way. But when we consider group 
performance in music, it is a different matter. The counting 
plan for evaluation of punctuation might be very helpful or 
even necessary in unison reading." 

2. If you have studied instrumental music, say whether you 
think your skill in execution is proportionate to the time you 
have spent in practice. Compare what you have gained in 
music with what you have acquired in other subjects upon 
which you have spent an equal amount of time. If you have 
not studied music yourself, then get data relating to the above 
questions by observing or questioning some one who has. 

3. What psychological and educational significance is to be 
attached to the oft-heard phrases, — "I can not play for you be- 
cause I forgot my notes," or "because I am out of practice," 
and so on? 

4. Gather reliable data bearing on this problem: Did the 
greatest musicians, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, and oth- 
ers, start in their career by giving attention to the technique 
of music first, or did they at the outset try to express their 
musical feeling, and later perfect their technique as it was re- 
quired to express their feelings and conceptions the more truly 
and adequately? 

5. It is said by persons who ought to know that the pupils 
trained in American schools have little interest or ability in 
vocal music. If this be true, what is the explanation? 

6. When a pupil is beginning to learn penmanship, would it 
be wise to require him at the outset to write a sentence as a 
whole, because it is the "unit of thought"? Why? 

7. When a student is beginning the study of German, would 
it be well to require him at the outset to pronounce three-syl- 



370 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

lable words say? Why? How should one begin in teaching a 
novice to render correctly elementary sounds in German 
words? 

8. Describe your experience in the study of drawing in the 
elementary school, mentioning the amount of time you spent 
in this work, the method you followed, and your present abil- 
ity in this direction. Do the results in your case justify the 
method employed? 

9. Discuss this proposition: "One can draw or paint any- 
thing which he can clearly perceive." 

10. Which would you insist upon at the outset in teaching 
a child to draw, — accuracy and neatness in executing lines, or 
a portrayal — rough and crude and imperfect, probably — of the 
essential visual characteristics of objects? 

11. Would you encourage a novice in drawing to proceed 
slowly and painstakingly with elementary processes in repre- 
senting an object, or to work rapidly with the thing as a 
whole, seeking to portray only its principal phases, and not 
stopping to make the elements technically accurate? 

12. What topics or processes in the following studies should 
be taught with a view to making them automatic: (a) geog- 
raphy; (b) history; (c) psychology; (d) physics; (e) man- 
ual training; (f) rhetoric; (g) German. 

13. Should any or all of the propositions or theorems in 
geometry be taught so that the demonstrations can be given 
automatically? Why? 

14. Should ethics be taught with a view primarily to de- 
velop habits of action, or with a view to inculcate right rea- 
soning on ethical questions? 

15. Discuss the following proposition with reference, first, 
to the facts in the case, and then with reference to the educa- 
tional principle involved: "Most of us understand ethical con- 
duct much better than we practise it." 

16. Which of the common-school studies are predominantly 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 371 

technical or formal? Which of the high-school studies are 
of this character? 

17. How early should a pupil who has been taught to read 
by the word or the sentence method, be able to give all the 
letters of the alphabet in their proper order? 

18. Respond to the following query, asked by a high-school 
principal: "In commercial arithmetic in the high school, I 
have found it almost impossible in, say, 50% to 60% of the 
cases to teach pupils a nev/ and shorter method of doing an 
old problem. They can not learn to use the 60-day method in 
interest, and seem bound to find 162-3% of a number by cal- 
culating first 1% and then multiplying that by 162-3. What 
is the trouble?" 

19. Ccm.ment on the f ollovv'ing state examination in music : 
1. Name one idea that should be developed in each of the 

first four years of teaching music in the public schools. De- 
scribe briefly how you develop one of these. 2. What is your 
method of bringing up a child that is backward in music? One 
who is careless and yet can learn music easily? 3. Write the 
ascending scale of D minor in Harmonic and Melodic form. 
4. Name four of the masters in music and tell of what nation 
each was a native. Name four authors of vocal music and 
name a selection of each. 5. Explain each figure of the meter 
signature fully as to a class. 6. Write the relative and abso- 
lute pitch names in the key of D. 7. What are bars ? A time 
signature? Triple time? A tie? Accent? A chord? 8. How 
m.uch individual singing do you have your pupils do? Why? 
9. What is meant by the science of music? The art of music? 
By musical idea? 10. What is the cause of fault}"- intonation? 
How correct it? W'hat are monotones? How remedied? 



372 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

VIII 

TEACHING THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 

1. Give three examples of dictionary definitions o£ words 
which would be fully intelligible to a novice, and which are 
true and adequate definitions of the words in question. 

2. Give three examples of dictionary definitions of words 
which would be unintelligible to a pupil, say in the sixth grade. 

3. Give in concrete detail an explanation made by a teacher 
of a point in any study not understood by a pupil, which ex- 
planation explained fully, clearly, and impressively. Also give 
an example of an explanation, so-called, which had a con- 
trary result. 

4. Write out, without consulting a dictionary, what you 
think of when you hear the word "goodness". Trace the steps 
by which this word has come to have its present significance 
for you. 

5. Write out in detail how you would make the following 
words intelligible to a pupil in the eighth grade: (a) generos- 
ity; (b) evolution; (c) overture; (d) specific gravity; (e) 
tariff; (f) Romanesque. 

6. Write out a list of words, the meanings of which you 
feel you know, but yet which you can not state to your satis- 
faction. Explain the fact that you can not define what you 
believe you understand. 

7. Would you employ the dictionary in schools for certain 
purposes earlier than for the learning of definitions? If so, 
for what? 

8. Is the ability correctly to define a word wholly inde- 
pendent of an appreciation of its meaning? 

9. Comment on the ease with which a boy of twelve will 
learn such new words as "chauffeur", "ignition", "cyclometer", 
"cylinder", "magneto", "carbureter", and many other long and 
seemingly difficult words, while he has difficulty with "nomi- 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 373 

native", "subjunctive", "multiplicand", "integer", and the like. 

10. Do children who live in the country, with but few com- 
panions, use language as a means of expression as readily and 
effectively as children who live in the city, and who have many 
playmates? Give concrete evidence. Avoid a merely conven- 
tional answer. 

11. Among the adults you know, do those who lived in the 
country until they reached maturity use language as fluently 
and effectively as those who have lived in the city since their 
birth? What is the principle involved? 

12. Suggest feasible methods of leading children in the ele- 
mentary school to talk readily and to the point. Suggest 
methods also to be used with high-school students. 

13. Do you enjoy expressing yourself through writing? Do 
your companions? Comment on the facts as you find them. 

14. Discuss the following creed of a well-known teacher: 
"I believe it is my mission as a teacher to get my pupils to 
accept and to use the highest standards of English, and to 
prevent them from using the inelegant and crude vulgarisms 
of the hour." 

15. What has been the attitude of your teachers in the ele- 
mentary and in the high school with reference to confining 
your reading to "standard" literature? Would you let a child 
under your control read a biography of Buffalo Bill, or the 
History of the Dalton Gang, and the like? Give reasons for 
your answer. 

16. Speaking of conventionality in the use of language, do 
linguistic scholars agree on the spelling and the pronunciation 
of all familiar words? Do they agree on spelling reform? 
Would they all approve such an expression as "It is me"? 
Do they agree on the use of the cleft infinitive? 

17. Discuss the practice of having children learn long pas- 
sages from the Bible, the meaning of which is beyond their 
grasp, in the belief that in later life the meaning will become 
clear. 



374 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

18. Give a list of ten words or phrases, not mentioned in 
the text, which are thought by some people to be in accord 
with the best standards, while others regard them as slang. 
Give your own opinion regarding their respectability. 

19. Why do college students use slang as readily and copi- 
ously as they do in all parts of our country? If you could 
have your way, would you suppress college slang? Why? 

20. Would you permit pupils in the elementary or the high 
school to use the language of the street in the class-room? 
Why? 

21. Are the students who make the best records in the reg- 
ular work of the school or the college the most ready to in- 
vent and to employ slang phrases? Or is it the other way 
'round? Get precise data on this point, 

22. Do city children use more slang than country children? 
Why? What is the case with regard to adults? 

23. According to your observation, can the graduates of the 
elementary or the high school speak freely and to the point 
when they are placed in public situations? Are those who 
have been in school for many years freer and more effective 
in their public speaking than those who have not had much 
schooling? 

24. Is it possible that the dread of "speaking pieces" before 
the school may give a pupil such a distaste for similar activi- 
ties that he never can become an efficient public speaker? 

25. Might the dramatizing of favorite stories be made a 
satisfactory substitute for individual recitation? What is the 
value of having debates on live questions in which the children 
are interested, and on which they are informed? 

26. Does the insistence of teachers of English composition 
upon "Purity, Propriety, and Precision" in words have a tend- 
ency to develop clearness in thinking, or does it tend to inhibit 
somewhat the thinking process, and stifle originality? Give 
concrete evidence illustrating the principle. 

27. Are "memory gems" as learned by children in school 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 375 

of any real worth? Discuss the plan oF having children 
learn a large amount of poetry and prose of classic value for 
the purpose of enlarging the vocabulary, and also for the pur- 
pose of giving a feeling for melody and rhythm in language. 

28. Which method of memorizing do pupils habitually fol- 
low, the "whole" or the "part" method? What implications 
are contained in your answer? 

29. How would you meet the need that exists in every school 
of having definite instruction and practice in the proper and 
effective use of the voice ? 

30. Comment on the rule insisted upon by many teachers, 
that in recitation each pupil must answer every question in 
complete sentences. 

31. Do children in grades below the high school take any 
account of style in prose writing? Are they interested mainly 
in the form or in the content of what they read? How may a 
taste for good style be developed? 

32. Comment on the following testimony from an elderly 
man : "When I was a boy back East, we read and analyzed 
every sentence in Book One of Paradise Lost. Nothing ever 
did me so much good !" 

ZZ. Justify if possible the placing of Burke's Speech on 
Conciliation or Emerson's Essay on Self-Reliance in the list 
of required readings for college entrance. 

34. Comment on the following examination in grammar 
from the standpoint of its putting emphasis on efficiency in 
expression : 

1. Explain the difference between the etymology and the 
syntax of words. 2. Are infinitives and participles classified 
as parts of speech? 3. What is your opinion of how the in- 
finitive and participle should be classified? 4. Show by an 
outline that you understand the classification of the adjective. 
5. Show by sentences the difference in modification of adjec- 
tives and adverbs. 6. Show the value of analysis and syn- 
thesis in the study of grammar. 7. Write a simple sentence. 



376 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

A complex sentence. A compound sentence. 8. Make a list of 
twenty propositions. 9. Write the following words in sentences 
(first, as nouns; second, as adjectives; third, as verbs) : Stone, 
block, and hurt. 10. Analyze or diagram: It is worth the 
effort to be honest. 

35. Comment on this state examination set for a teacher's 
certificate : 

READING 

1. Name two or more good systems of teaching reading to 
beginners. Which do you use? 2. What can you tell about 
the proposed constitutional convention? What are some of 
the reasons for holding it? 3. Why are these persons so 
prominent in the news of the day: Woodrow Wilson? La 
Follette? Ella Wheeler Wilcox? Judson Harmon? Madero? 
The present Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court? 
4. What is the earliest historical event that occurred in your 
county of which you have authentic information? The earliest 
event in the history of our state? 5. Give your plans for 
overcoming the fault of mere word calling by a pupil in his 
oral reading. 6. When was your county settled? By whom? 
What is its area? Its population? What are its leading pro- 
ductions ? 

IX 

TENDENCIES OF NOVICES IN TEACHING 

1. As you look back over your school work, what seem to 
you to be the chief defects therein? How would you modify 
your school course if you were going over it again? 

2. What sort of teachers have left the most lasting and the 
best impression upon you, — those who were just beginning 
their professional work, or those who were practised in the 
business. 

3. Mention some good qualities in novices which they are 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 377 

likely to lose as they become familiar with their work, unless 
they keep constantly on their guard. 

4. Have you known a novice in teaching who had prominent 
faults in the beginning of his career, but who outgrew them 
as he gained experience? Did he discover his shortcomings 
without criticism or suggestion by others? 

5. Are there "born teachers" ? Are they the same as "teach- 
ers by the grace of God"? Describe such teachers, showing 
how they differ from those who have been "made" by special 
training. 

6. Look up the record of three of the strongest teachers 
you know now, or have known at any time. Were they spe- 
cially trained for their work? What characteristics made them 
strong and capable? 

7. If you could control the certification of teachers, what 
would you require for a certificate entitling the holder to 
teach in a rural school? In a city elementary school? In 
a city high school? In a township high school? 

8. Comment on the following: "I like the emphasis placed 
on other than verbal criteria of the reactions of pupils, but I 
think it may be overdone. While I may be able to tell un- 
mistakably by visual evidence whether I have the attention of 
a class, I have no assurance that they are getting points in 
their proper perspective, or that they are getting the proper 
points at all^ or that they are getting any points if the discus- 
sion be abstract or otherwise difficult. I have often followed 
a discussion so closely that I have missed its organization and 
progression. I always get the most when occasionally I with- 
draw my attention for brief intervals from the speaker, or 
pause in my reading a minute for reaction." 

^ 9. What factors or conditions may cause a teacher to be 
timid and halting before his class? In your answer, take ac- 
count of the teacher's health, etc., as well as the character and 
attitudes of his pupils. 

10. Describe a so-called "egotistic" teacher. What influ- 



378 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

ence will such a person have on a typical group of pupils? 
Be concrete and specific in your answer. 

11. Describe a "sarcastic" teacher. Give a specimen of 
harmful sarcasm in a school-room, indicating all the circum- 
stances of the case. Do you know of instances in which sar- 
casm in the school-room has proved of service? 

12. Do you think the following point is important: "It 
seems to me there is one very common failing in young teach- 
ers especially. It is a lack of frankness toward superiors re- 
garding difficulties in discipline or actual teaching. They 
seem to feel that a confession of needs is a confession of 
weakness, and likely to injure their standing. This is a very 
dangerous condition of affairs in small schools where adequate 
supervision is impossible, and in larger ones where the high 
school has a teaching principal and a superintendent who de- 
votes most of his attention to the grades. Consequently things 
often come to a 'pretty pass' before the superior finds out 
the conditions. I have some specific cases in mind which, in 
my own experience, have driven in this point hard."' 

13. Is it a wise use of time in class for the teacher to take 
one-fourth or one-half of the period for the purpose of care- 
fully assigning the next lesson, and indicating at the same 
time the best way to prepare it? Comment on this sort of an 
assignment given hurriedly after the closing bell has sounded : 
"Take the next three pages." 

14. Is the following case a typical one : "It was reported 
of a certain teacher that she conducted a very orderly school. 
'Her pupils maintain such good positions; the boys never 
have their hands in their pockets; the girls never put their 
elbows on the desk,' the people said. Upon visiting the class, 
the report was found to be true, but it was also discovered 
that the teacher had made an absolute rule requiring upright 
positions, both feet on the floor, hands on the desk, all the 
time. If one of the pupils became tired or changed his posi- 
tion, he was immediately called to order. Thus, in an intensely 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 379 

interesting discussion, for the teacher was very strong in 
her subject, a bright boy^ disagreeing with what another pupil 
had said, turned about in his seat to face the class, ran his 
fingers through his hair, while his face showed his desire to 
express his idea on the subject. Quick as a flash came the 
teacher's reproof for his position, which the boy immediately 
corrected; but all his enthusiasm was gone. Embarrassed by 
the reproof, and the attention it had gained him from the 
class, he was unable to find words to express the idea he had 
in mind, and sat down with a sense of having failed." 

15. Comment on the following testimony from an experi- 
enced and successful teacher of English : "When I began to 
teach composition, I tried to teach six rules of punctuation in 
one day to a freshman class in high school. Now I spend two 
days preparing for one rule, and on the third, I let the class 
frame it from the experience they have had working with 
sentences on the two previous days." 

16. What common faults in inexperienced teachers do the 
following incidents illustrate? 

(a) A teacher of a second-year high-school class studying 
Wordsworth's poems gave one recitation period of forty min- 
utes to a discussion evidently derived from college lecture 
notes on the difference betwen Romanticism and Classicism. 
She illustrated her remarks by passages from Pope and 
Wordsworth. 

(b) In a high-school freshman class in English studying 
Irving's Christmas Eve, a period of forty minutes was spent 
in questions and answers on the traits in the character of Mr. 
Bracebridge. The teacher merely asked questions based on 
the text, and the children found the answers in the text. 

17. Comment on the following assignment for a seventh- 
grade geography class : "Starting at the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi river, look up all the cities located on this river, and find 
out all the interesting things about each one either in the text- 
book or the cyclopaedia. Be able to sketch on the board an 



38o EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

outline map of the United States, showing the location of this 
river and these cities." 

18. In the Teachers' College Record (Teachers' College, 
Columbia University) for September, 1910, is a stenographic 
report of a lesson in high-school English. The report is said to 
be an exact reproduction of the questions asked by the teacher, 
and his remarks, and the answers given by the pupils. Com- 
ment on (a) the character of the questions and the teacher's re- 
marks as to their content and their form, and (b) on the re- 
sponses from pupils. (Only the first half of the lesson is here 
given.) 

Teacher. Before we begin to talk about modern ballads, 
let's see what you got from your first impression of the old 
ballads last time. In the first place, give four or five subjects 
that the old ballad writers were especially interested iiL 

Pupil. Fighting, principally, and some romance. 

T. What do you mean by romance? 

P. Romance — that is all. 

T. People meant different things — fighting, or love— do you 
mean lovef 

P. No, fighting— romance. (Teacher writes on board "ro- 
mance".) That is about all I know, in the first— old ballads : 
oh, yes, one gruesome one, about c — . 

T. Corbies? 

P. Yes. 

T. Horror, perhaps. 

P. Yes. 

T. (Names special pupil). 

P. It only happened once, — lovers separated and met again. 

T. Yes. (Writes "Fighting, Tales of Horror, Shipwreck, 
Parted Lovers.") Is that a fair list? I should think so. Let 
us see about the spirit in which they were written, that is, the 
kind of qualities the people in those ballads showed, and the 
kind of qualities in human nature people of that day liked. 

P. I think bravery. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 381 

T. (Writing "bravery".) Anything else? 

P. A hero and a villain. 

T. Hero and villain ; in other words you take sides ? 

P. Yes. 

T. What other qualities besides bravery? 

P. Treachery, of the kind in the ballad of Johnnie Arm- 
strong. 

T. Yes, and the hero shows what quality? 

P. He believes in the king even when he is summoned be- 
fore him. 

T. Good faith on one side, and treachery on, the other. 
Anything else? 

P. Honor. 

T. Honor, yes. (Writes "honor".) 

P. A great deal of honor among themselves. 

T. Loyalty to each other; and as regards their enemies, 
what? 

P. They used to fight for fun, and they had certain rules ; 
they were not really angry, they had to keep certain rules. 

T. In other words? 

P. They couldn't do just as they wanted to. 

T. There were rules of honor even toward your enemy, a 
sort of amateur spirit. 

P. Courtesy to their enemies. 

T. Courtesy, — and perhaps we might say this includes being 
true to the rules. Could we say anything about the style in 
which these poems were written, kind of language, and kind of 
verse form? 

P. Could be put to music. 

T. Easy to sing, for one thing? 

P. Yes. 

T. Complicated tunes, or simple? 

P. Simple. 

T. How about the words, the English? 

P. Old English and Scotch. 



382 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

T. Old English and Scotch; easy or hard to understand? 

P. After you have read two or three, I don't think it is 
hard. 

T. If you had been an old Scotchman of those times, 
should you say they were written in hard or easy language? 

P. Simple, — quaint. 

T. Simple and quaint — old-fashioned. Let us turn to the 
ballads you had for to-day; see how they compare with these 
old ones. The first one, Lord Ullin's Daughter — as regards 
the subject matter, is it the kind of story you think would 
appeal to ancient writers? 

P. It seems so; this one was about an elopement, they 
seem to write that kind of story. 

T. Anything else? 

P. Shipwreck. 

T. Do you think the old ballad writers would have been 
satisfied with the way the story came out? 

P. I don't think so; they liked to see their side win; the 
lovers won in this case, but were drowned; I don't think they 
would have liked it that way. 

T. If they are going to get away from the father, they 
ought to get away clear. I think that is true ; things end sim- 
ply in the old ballads, it is an out-and-out tragedy or a happy 
ending. 

P. They had some death, like Johnnie Armstrong, where 
the hero was killed. 

T. How was he killed? 

P. By treachery. 

T. Was there any here? 

P. No. 

T. Were they killed through anybody's fault, or by acci- 
dent? 

P. By accident. 

T. How is it in the old ballads? 

P. In the first stories they were not,— a shipwreck. 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 383 

T. But in most cases it is a matter of somebody's treachery. 
In Sir Patrick Spence who gets drowned? 

P. The Scotch nobles. 

T. There it is the lords and all those other fine noblemen. 
As far as the style goes in Lord UUin's Daughter, should you 
say that the story goes rapidly, as rapidly as possible, or 
should you say that if an old ballad singer were telling the 
story, there is something that could be left out? 

P. I think so. 

T. Can you see any group of verses that could be left out 
without breaking the story up? 

P. I think where it described the boat (reads) : — 

"The boat has left a stormy land, 

A stormy sea before her — 
When, oh ! too strong for human hand, 
The tempest gather'd o'er her." 

Those descriptions could be left out; and (reads) : — 

"For sore dismay'd, through storm and shade, 
His child he did discover : — 
One lovely hand she stretch'd for aid, 
And one was round her lover." 

T. You think the picture of how she looked in the boat does 
not count? 

P. I like it, but It could have been left out. 

T. The old ballad singers would have left out that part. 
Are there things in the earlier part of the poem that could be 
left out if you just wanted the story? 

P. The first verse. 

T. Better if they got started at once, perhaps. Miss Weiss? 



384 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

P. The third verse : — 

"And fast before her father's men 
Three days we've fled together, 
For should he find us in the glen, 
My blood would stain the heather." 

He says right after that that the horses are right behind him, 
so he could have left that out. 

T. He spends too much time in talking to the boatman, 
that is true. 

P. The seventh verse: — 

"By this the storm grew loud apace. 
The water-wraith was shrieking; 
And in the scowl of Heaven each face 
Grew dark as they were speaking." 

T. You can't help wondering why they didn't get in the 
boat, and stop talking. The old ballad writers pared it all 
down to nothing but the story. Turn to the next one,-^Lady 
Clare; would that have pleased the old ballad writers? 

P. I think it would have. It is just the kind of love story 
they liked, — it all turned out well. 

T. Turns out well in the end; and in it the lovers show 
what kind of quahties? 

P. Faithful. 

T. You like that? 

P. Yes. 

T. The sort of things anybody would like, all the admirable 
qualities of a good love story. I wonder if any one noticed 
the language of this poem, anything that would show that 
Tennyson was trying to imitate the language of the old bal- 
lads? 

P. "I trow they did not part in scorn." 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 385 

T. "I trow" — that sounds old-fashioned. Anything else? 
P. The way he brings in the nurse : — 

"In there came old Alice the nurse, 

Said, 'Who was this that went from thee ?' 
*It was my cousin,' said Lady Clare ; 
*To-morrow he weds with me.' " 

and "thee" and "thou." 
T. How about the word "Said"; has that any subject? 
P. "Alice the nurse" is subject of both came and said. 
T. Yes : anything else ? 

P. The last of that verse, "To-morrow he weds with me." 
T. That sounds old-fashioned; anything else? 
P. Some of the repetition. 
T. What line? 

P. "Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse?" 
T. And "Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear, 
My mother dear, if this be so," 

sounds like the kind of repetition a man would make on a 
guitar, or something like that. 

" Tlay me no tricks,' said Lord Ronald, 
'For I am yours in word and in deed. 
Play me no tricks,' said Lord Ronald, 
*Your riddle is hard to read.' " 

It comes again and again. When you come to Lucy Gray, a 
poem which was very famous, and which is, perhaps, a little 
hard to get the real spirit of at first; did any one feel espe- 
cially attracted by that? Miss Graves? What did you like 
about it? 

(The lesson was continued for about twenty minutes 
longer.) 



^S6 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

X 

THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 

1. Discuss the following: "Girls who graduate from col- 
lege and from the high school have, as a rule, little interest in 
home-making." Is there any direct reHable evidence bearing 
on this problem? 

2. What subjects ordinarily taught in the high school are, 
when pursued with understanding, of marked service to a girl 
who is required to manage a home. Show just how these 
studies may be of service to her. 

3. Write out a statement showing what "making a home" 
really means, or ought to mean. 

4. Should a girl while in the elementary school pursue 
studies different from those pursued by the boys? Why? Dis- 
cuss this same question in respect to the work of the high 
school. 

5. Point out the advantages and the disadvantages of co- 
education in (a) the elementary school; (b) the high school; 
(c) the college. 

6. Would it be desirable in an ungraded rural school to 
attempt to give the girls a somewhat different training from 
the boys? Why? 

7. Should the elementary school endeavor to prepare a girl 
for other duties and responsibilities than those involved in 
making a home? Be specific. What should the high school 
do in respect to this matter? 

8. Show in what particular the "highly educated" women 
in the community in which you live are better adapted to their 
environments, physical and social, than those who are not so 
highly trained. Are the former more contented with their lot 
than the latter? Are they of greater service to the people of 
th community? 

9. What seem to you to be the effects upon the health of 



EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 387 

women of high-school and college education? Exact data are 
needed here, if you can find them. 

10. Do you think a girl should pursue any study simply be- 
cause of the mental discipline she may get from it? Is it any 
different with a boy? 

11. Show how some or all of the following studies may be 
made directly applicable to the special needs of girls : Latin ; 
botany ; chemistry ; physics ; rhetoric ; civics ; geometry ; Eng- 
lish literature ; French ; bookkeeping ; typewriting. 

12. Is drawing a valuable study for every girl, even though 
she may have no particular talent in this direction, or may 
never produce anything of value in this line outside of school? 

13. According to your observation, are girls who study do- 
mestic science in the high school more helpful at home than 
those who do not study it? Do they grow to like house-work 
on account of this training? 

14. Has the introduction of domestic science in the schools 
helped to solve the servant-girl problem? Has it raised the 
social status of those who do housework? 

15. Discuss the plan of having a course in millinery given 
in every high school in connection with work in sewing. 

16. Ought there to be specially prepared text-books for 
girls in such subjects as chemistry, physiology, and physics? 

17. Comment on the following. (Tyler, Growth and Edu- 
cation, p. 172.) "The teachers in our women's colleges are 
learned, intelligent, very highly cultured, and ambitious. They 
have been eager to prove that the average woman has more 
intellectual ability than any man. This question any man of 
any experience will unhesitatingly and emphatically answer in 
the affirmative, without the evidence of a ^college diploma or 
degree of Ph. D." 

18. In certain government schools for Indians, sewing-ma- 
chines are but little used, improved laundry apparatus is em- 
ployed for only a part of the washing, and cooking is done 
on old-fashioned wood-stoves instead of up-to-date ranges. Is 



388 EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS 

this condition, a result of lack of funds In some cases, a very 
great disadvantage to the pupils? 

19. When a school man says that one of his primary aims 
in the teaching of household arts is the securing of direct vo- 
cational efficiency, is he in accord with contemporary educa- 
tional thought on this subject? 

20. If you were in charge of a system of schools, would 
you hold public graduating exercises and grant diplomas at 
the completion of the eighth grade? Would you have gradu- 
ating exercises in the high school? If so describe any rules 
or regulations you would make for the control of excessive 
expenditures for dresses, etc. 

21. How would you deal with the problem of dancing on 
the part of girls who are students in the grammar school or 
the high school? Would you limit the number of "parties" a 
girl might attend during the school year? Why? How? 



REFERENCES FOR READING 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

In selecting the following lists of references for further 
reading, the needs of the practical teacher have been kept con- 
stantly in mind. It has been the aim to suggest helpful books 
and articles which are easily accessible, and to this end consid- 
erable use has been made of the more important educational 
and psychological magazines and the Addresses and Proceed- 
ings of the National Education Association (previous to 1907 
the National Educational Association), which are usually 
found in any general or professional library. In deciding 
upon any particular reference, the topics presented In the Ex- 
ercises and Problems were kept in mind especially, although it 
was the aim to suggest not less than three references relating 
to each principle discussed in the text. Inasmuch as this book 
does not attempt to consider questions of the curriculum or 
any phase of the history or philosophy of education, no refer- 
ence has been made to readings relating to these fields. Some 
of the references are designed wholly for those who have had 
no previous study of psychology or education, and they are in- 
dicated by (E), while others, denoted by (A), are more ad- 
vanced, and may be read to greatest advantage by those who 
are familiar with the elements of biology, psychology, and 
education. 

I 

GOOD ORDER 

ALDRICH: The Story of a Bad Boy (E). Boston (1892), 

Houghton Mifflin Co. 
ANGELL: Habit and Attention (A). In The Psychological 

Review, vols, iii, and v. 

i 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

BAGLEY: Class-room Management, chaps, iv, ix, x, xi, xii, 

(E). New York (1909), The Macmillan Co. 
BAGLEY: The Educative Process, chap, xxiii, (A). New 

York (1907), The Macmillan Co. 
BALDWIN: Mental Development,— Methods and Processes, 

chap. XV, (A). New York (1895), The Macmillan Co. 
BETTS: The Recitation, chaps, i, ii, iii, iv, v, (E). Boston 

(1910), Houghton Mifflin Co. 
BOLTON: Principles of Education, chaps, vii, xxvi, (A). 

New York (1910), Chas. Scribner's Sons. 
BRYAN: Nascent Stages and Their Pedagogical Signifi- 
cance (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vii. 
CHAMBERS: The Evolution of Ideals (E). In The Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. x. 
COOLEY : Human Nature and The Social Order, chaps, iii, 

xii, (A). New York (1910), Chas. Scribner's Sons. 
CROSWELL: Amusements of Worcester School Children 

(E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vi. 
DE GARMO: Herbart and the Herbartians, chap, v, (E). 

New York (1895), The Macmillan Co. 
DE GARMO: Interest and Education, chap, viii, (A). New 

York (1906), The Macmillan Co. 
DEWEY: Interest as Related to the Will (A)'. Chicago 

(1889), National Herbart Soc. Year Book. 
FORBUSH : The Boy Problem, A Study in Social Pedagogy 

(E). Boston (1907), The Pilgrim Press. 
GROOS: The Play of Man, Part III, (E). New York 

(1906), The Macmillan Co. 
GUILLET: Recapitulation and Education (A). In The 

Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vii. 
HALL and SMITH: Curiosity and Interest (E). In The 

Pedagogical Seminary, vol. x. 
HANCOCK: Work and Play (E). Educator, vol. xxv. 
HORNE: Psychological Principles of Education, chap, xxv, 

(E). New York (1906), The Macmillan Co. 
ii 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

JAMES: Talks to Teachers, etc., pp. 199-288, (E). New 
York (1906), H. Holt & Co. 

JOHNSON : An Educational Experiment (E). In The Ped- 
agogical Seminary, vol. vi. 

JOHNSON: Education by Plays and Games, chaps, i and ii, 
(E). Boston (1907), Ginn & Co. 

KIRKPATRICK : Fundamentals of Child Study, chap, xvli, 
(E). New York (1903), The Macmillan Co. 

KIRKPATRICK: Genetic Psychology, chap, v, (A). New 
York (1910), The Macmillan Co. 

LAING: An Inductive Study of Interest (E). Educational 
Review, vol. xvi. 

LOCKE: Some Thoughts Concerning Education (E). Lon- 
don (1892), Cambridge University Press. 

McDOUGAL: Interest and Development (E). In the Jour- 
nal of Pedagogy, vol. xv. 

M'LENNAN: Emotion, Desire, and Interest (A). In the 
Psychological Review, vol. ii. 

PUFFER: A Study of Boy Gangs (E). In The Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol, vii, pp. 175-212. 

ROSS: Social Psychology, chap, ii, (A). New York (1909), 
The Macmillan Co. 

ROWE: Habit Formation and The Science of Teaching, 
chaps. V and vi, (A). New York (1909), Longmans, 
Green & Co. 

RUEDIGER: Principles of Education, chap, ii, (A). Bos- 
ton (1910), Houghton Mifflin Co. 

STEARNS: Children's Ideas of Right and Wrong (E). 
Archives of Psychology, No. 12, 1909. 

SULLY: Studies of Childhood (E). New York (1896), D. 
Appleton & Co. 

THORNDIKE: Principles of Teaching, chap, vii, (A). 
New York (1906), A. G. Seller. 

TRIPLETT: A Study of the Faults of Children (E). In 
The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. x. 
iii 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

TUCKER: Comparative Observation on the Involuntary 
Movements of Adults and Children (A). American Jour- 
nal of Psychology, vol. viii. 

TYLER: Growth and Education, chaps i-iii, and xiii, (A). 
Boston (1907), Houghton Mifflin Co. 

VANDEWALKER: The Culture Epoch Theory from an 
Anthropological Standpoint (A). In the Educational Re- 
view, vol. ii. 

WRIGHT: Some Effects of Incentives on Work and Fa- 
tigue (A). In the Psychological Review, vol. xiii. 



II 



DISCIPLINE 

ADLER: The Moral Instruction of Children (E). New 
York (1895), The International Education Series, D. Ap- 
pleton & Co. 

ALLEN: Civics and Health, Part II, (E). Boston (1909), 
Ginn & Co. 

ANDREWS: History as an Aid to Moral Culture (E). Na- 
tional Educational Association, 1894, pp. 397-409. 

ARISTOTLE: Politics. Translated, with an Analysis and 
Critical Notes, by J. E. C. Welldon, Book IV, chaps, xiv- 
xvii, and all of Book V, (A). New York (1897), The 
Macmillan Co. 

BALDWIN: Bashfulness in Children (E). In the Educa- 
tional Review, vol. viii, pp. 434-441. 

BALDWIN : Social and Ethical Interpretations, chap, ix, 
(A). New York (1895), The Macmillan Co. 

BARNES: Punishment as Seen by Children (E). In The 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. iii, October, 1895. 

BENDER: The Teacher at Work, pp. 176-213, (E). Chi- 
cago (1902), Ainsworth & Co. 



IV 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

BLAKE : Importance o£ Hearing Tests in the Public School 
(E). National Educational Association, 1903, pp. 1013- 
1019. 

BOHANNON: The Only Child in the Family (E). In The 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. v, p. 475. 

BREESE: On Inhibition (A). In the Psychological Review, 
vol, iii, and Monograph Supplement. 

BUCK: Boys' Self -Governing Clubs (E). New York 
(1903), The Macmillan Co. 

BURK: Teasing and Bullying (E). In The Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. iv. 

BURNHAM: Health Inspection in Schools (E). In The 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vii, pp. 70-93. 

BURNHAM: Hygiene of Home Study (E). In The Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. xii, pp. 213-229. 

BURNHAM: Hygiene of the Nose (E). In The Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. xv, pp. 155-168. 

CHANCELLOR: Education for Social Control (E). Add. 
and Proc. National Educational Association, 1901, pp. 619- 
626. 

CURTIS: Inhibition (A). In The Pedagogical Seminary, 
vol. vi, No. 1. 

DARRAH: Children's Attitude Toward Law (E). In 
Studies in Education, edited by Earl Barnes, vol. i, pp. 
213-216, 254-258. 

DE GARMO: The Value of Literature in Moral Training 
(E). National Educational Association, 1894, pp. 388-397. 

DEWEY: Interest as Related to Will (A). Second Supple- 
ment to the Year Book for 1885 of the Herbart Society. 

DEXTER: The Child and the Weather (E). In The Ped- 
agogical Seminary, vol. v, pp. 512-522. 

FOREL: Nervous and Mental Hygiene, chaps, ix-xi, (A). 
New York (1907), G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

FREAR: Class Punishment (E). In Studies in Education, 
edited by Earl Barnes, vol. i, pp. 2iZ2-Z2)7. 
V 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

FREAR: Imitation; A Study Based on E. H. Russell's 
Child Observation (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, 
vol. iv. 

FREAR: What Children Imitate (E). In The Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. iv. 

GREENWOOD: Eye Defects of Feeble-minded and Back- 
ward Children (E). National Educational Association, 
1903, pp. 1023-1028. 

GUILLET: A Study in Interests (E). In The Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. xiv. 

GULICK: The Time to Quit Work (E). In The World's 
Work, August, 1907. 

HALL and SMITH: Showing Off and Bashfulness as 
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HUGHES: Harmony Between Control and Spontaneity (E). 
National Educational Association, 1892, pp. 187-198. 

JORDAN: Nature Study and Moral Culture (E). National 
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KEITH : Elementary Education, Its Problems and Processes, 
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KIDD: Savage Childhood (E). London (1906), Adam and 
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KIRKPATRICK: The Individual in the Making, chap, ii, 
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LINDSEY: Childhood and Morality (E). National Educa- 
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LINSLEY: All Crime is Disease (E). National Educational 
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LOCKE: Education, Sections xxix-Ixvi, (E). 

MARSHALL: Biological Lectures and Addresses, chap, xii, 
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MORRISON: Juvenile Offenders (A). New York (1897), 
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vl 



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MOSSO: Address at the Decennial Celebration of Clark 
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MOSSO: Fatigue, Translated from the French by Mar- 
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MULFORD: The Throat of the Child (E). In the Educa- 
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MUNROE: Child Study and School Discipline (E). In the 
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O'SHEA: The Right Physical Start in Education (E). In 
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O'SHEA: When Character is Formed (E). In Popular 
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PLATO : The Republic, Books ii-v, Translated by Alexan- 
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PYLE: Outlines of Educational Psychology, chaps, v-viii, 
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ROUSSEAU: Emile; or A Treatise on Education, Abridged, 
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ROWE: Habit Formation and The Science of Teaching, 
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SCOTT: Social Education' (E). Boston (1908), Ginn & Co. 

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SMITH: Obstinacy and Obedience (E). In The Pedagog- 
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SPENCER: Education, Intellectual, Moral, and Physical, 
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TANNER : Relation of the Child's Development to his Con- 
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TARDE: The Laws of Imitation, New York (1903), trans- 
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THOMPSON: Efifect of Moral Training upon Civic Life 
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Ill 

FAIR PLAY IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM 

AMICIS : The Heart of a Boy, Translated by G. Mantellini, 
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BALDWIN: Social and Ethical Interpretation, chap, x, (A). 

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BARNES: Children's Ideals (E). In The Pedagogical Semi- 
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BOHANNON: A Study of Peculiar and Exceptional Chil- 
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BONSER: Chums; A Study in Youthfuf Friendships (E). 
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DEWEY: The School as a Social Center (E). National Ed- 
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SCHALLENBERGER: A Study of Children's Rights as 
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IV 

TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK 

ADAMS : Exposition and Illustration of Teaching, chaps, iv, 

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BAGLEY: Craftsmanship in Teaching, chap, vi, (E). New 

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BENSON: From a College V/indow, chap, ix, (E). New 

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BOLTON : Facts and Fictions Regarding Educational Values 
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CHANCELLOR : Order of Development, and Studies Suited 
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DEWEY : The Psychological and the Logical in Teaching 
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EARHART: Teaching Children to Study, chap, ii, (A). 
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ELLIOT: A Type of Positive Educational Reform. In the 
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HALL: The High School as the People's College (E). Na- 
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JACKMAN: The Relation of Arithmetic to Elementary 

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PARSONS: Making Education Hit the Mark (E). In the 
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REDWAY: Influence of Environment on U. S. History (A). 
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REPORT of the Committee of Five : The Study of History 
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RICE: A New Standpoint for the Selection of Elementary 
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SMITH: The Teaching of Elementary Mathematics (A). 
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STOCKWELL: Development of Penmanship (A). Ar- 
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WILSON: The Relation of the High School Course to the 
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WISSLER: Interests of Children in Reading in Elementary 
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WOLFE: The Human Side of Geography (E). Add. and 
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xiii 



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TEACHING PUPILS TO THINK — (Concluded) 

ADAMS: Herbartian Psychology Applied to Education, 
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& Co. 

BABER: Field Work in the Elementary School (E). In the 
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BAGLEY: Geography in the Intermediate Grades (E). In 
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BAILEY: The Nature Study Idea (E). New York (1909), 
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BARNES: The Historic Sense Among Children (E). 
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BARNES: The Teaching of Local History (E). In the 
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BLOOMFIELD : The Vocational Guidance of Youth, chaps. 
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BROWN : Modification of the High School to Meet the De- 
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tional Association, 1904, pp. 491-495. 

BROWN: Some Records of the Thoughts and Reasonings 
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CABOT: An Experiment in the Teaching of Ethics (E). In 
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CARLETON: Education and Industrial Evolution, Part II, 
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CARPENTER: Commercial Geography: The New Science 
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COOLEY : Adjustment of the School System to the Changed 
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COULTER : The Influence of the Teacher's Research Work 
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DARLING and SMITH : The Geography Course in the Chi- 
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DEWEY: Psychological Aspect of the School Curriculum 
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DOPP: The Relation of History and Industry (E). In The 
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DOPP: Industries in Elementary Education (E). Chicago 
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DRAPER: Desirable Uniformity and Diversity in American 
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DUTTON : The Relation of Education to Vocation (E). In 
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ELIOT: Educational Reform and the Social Order (E). In 
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FELMLEY: The Modern High-School Curriculum (E). 
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FINDLAY: Principles of Class Teaching, chap, vii, (A). 
London (1902), The Macmillan Co. 

GUYER: The Question of Method in Nature Study (A). 
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HAILMAN: Organic Relation of Studies in Human De- 
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HALL: Physics and Manual Training (A). In The Peda- 
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HIRSCH: The Moral Aspect of Industrial Education (E). 
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HODGE: Nature Study and Life (E). Boston (1902), Ginn 
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XV 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

HOLTZ: Nature Study (E). New York (1908), Charles 

Scribner's Sons. 
HOYT: Love of Nature as the Root of Science Teaching 

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JACKMAN: What Should be Emphasized in Teaching Bi- 
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MANN : Physics and Education (A). In Science, July, 1910. 
MANN: The Aims and Tendencies in Physics Teaching 

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MANN: The New Movement Among Physics Teachers 

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McMURRY : Omissions Advisable in the Present Course of 

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McMURRY: Special Method in Geography (E). New York 

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MEAD: Adjustment of Education to Contemporary Needs 

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MONROE: History of Education, chap, xiv, (A). New 

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MUNROE: Secondary Schools and Vocation (E). In the 

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SALISBURY: The Teaching of Geography: A Criticism 

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SCHMUCKER: The Study of Nature (E). Philadelphia 

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TABLETON: How to Increase Attendance of Boys at 
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1903, pp. 801-808. 

SUTHERLAND: The Teaching of Geography (E). Chi- 
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TERRY: The New Movement in Physics Teaching (E). In 
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THOMPSON: The Neighborhood as a Starting Point in 
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VAN SICKLE: Is the Curriculum Overcrowded? (E). Na- 
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VINCENT: Social Science and the Curriculum (E). Na- 
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WALKER: What Should be the Education of a Business 
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WHITBECK: The Fundamental and the Incidental in Geog- 
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WOODHULL: How the Public Will Solve Our Problems 
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WOODHULL: The Teaching of Physical Science (E). In 
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YOUNG: How to Teach Parents to Discriminate Between 
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VI 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE 

BAIN: Development of Voluntary Control (A). In the 
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xvii 



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BARNES : The Art of Little Children (E)'. In The Peda- 
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BROWN: Notes on Children's Drawings (E). University 
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BURNHAM : The Psychology and Hygiene of Spelling (E). 
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CARMEN: The Cause of Bad Spelling (E). In the Jour- 
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CORNMAN : Spelling in the Elementary School (E). Bos- 
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DEARBORN : Motor-Sensory Development (A). Baltimore 
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DEARBORN: The Psychology of Reading, chaps, iv-xiil, 
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DE GARMO: Relation of Industrial to General Education 
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DOOLEY: Practical Education for Industrial Workers (A). 
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DOWNEY: Control Processes in Modified Handwriting 
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ELLISON: Acquisition of Technical Skill (A). In The 
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FINDLAY: Principles of Class Teaching, chap, xiii, (A). 

GESELL : Accuracy in Handwriting as Related to School In- 
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HANEY: Vocational Work for the Elementary School (E). 
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HATCH: Technique in Elementary Manual Training (A). 
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JACKMAN: Constructive Work in the Common Schools 
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LAMPREY: Development of Children in Quickness of Per- 
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LEE : The Boy Who Goes to Work (E). In the Ediicational 
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LINDLEY: A Preliminary Study of Some of the Motor 
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MARCH: The Spelling Reform (E). Bureau of Education, 
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McAllister : Researches on Movements Used in Writing 
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McANDREW: Industrial Education (E). In the Educa- 
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MONROE: Editor, Cyclopedia of Education; Apprenticeship 
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O'SHEA: Children's Expression Through Drawing (E). 
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PATRICK : Should Children Under Ten Learn to Read and 
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THORNDIKE: Handwriting (E). Teachers' College Rec- 
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WHIPPLE: Relative Efficiency of Phonetic Alphabets (A). 
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WOODWARD : The Rise and Progress of Manual Training 
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1894, vol. i. 

VII 

TEACHING PUPILS TO EXECUTE — (Concluded) 

BAGLEY: On the Correlation of Mental and Motor Ability 
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BALLIET: Association of Ideas in Reading (A). National 
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BOGGS: How Children Learn to Read: An Experiment"! 
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BURK: Development from Fundamental to Accessory, etc., 
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BURK: The Genetic Versus the Logical Order in Draw- 
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BURNHAM: The Hygiene of Drawing (E). In The Peda- 
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COOKE: The A. B. C. of Drawing (E). Report of Educa- 
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CUSHMAN: Elementary Art Teaching in the Laboratory 
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DAMROSCH: Music as a Fart of Life (E). National Edu- 
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DUNCAN : A Few Suggestions on the Teaching of Art (E). 
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DUNCAN: A Plea for Outline Drawing for Little Children 
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GILLES: An Experimental Study of Musical Learning (A). 
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HALL: The Psychology of Music (A). In The Pedagogical 
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HARVEY: Manual Training in the Grades (E). In the 
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KERN: Elementary Music Teaching in the Laborarory 
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KIRKPATRICK: How Children Learn to Talk (4). In 
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LUKENS: A Study of Children's Drawings (E). In The 
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MEYERHART: Economic Learning (A). In The Peda- 
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MONROE : Editor, Cyclopedia of Education ; Art in Schools, 
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O'SHEA: Some Aspects of Drawing (A). In the Educa- 
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REEDER: The Historical Development of School Readers 
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SCOTT: Some Conditions of Expression in the School 
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SEARS: Studies in Rhythm (A). In The Pedagogical Sem- 
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SEAVER: Development of the Artistic Sense (A). Ar- 
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SMITH: Possibilities in Music Study (E). In the Elemen- 
tary School Teacher, vol. iv, pp. 605-177. 

SWIFT: The Acquisition of Skill in Typewriting (A). In 
the Psychological Review, Aug., 1904. 

SWIFT: Studies in the Psychology and Physiology of 
Learning (A). In the American Journal of Psychology, 
vol. xiv, April, 1903. 

VIII 

TEACHING THE ARTS OF COMMUNICATION 

BARNES: How Words Get Meaning (E). In Studies in 
Education, vol. i, (Stanford University). 

BOWDEN: A Study of Lapses (A). Monograph Supple- 
ment to the Psychological Review, vol. iii, No. 4. 
xxi 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

BRYAN and HARTER : Studies in the Physiology and Psy- 
chology of the Telegraphic Language (A). In the Psy- 
chological Reviezv, Jan., 1897, vol. iv, and July, 1899, vol. vi. 

CHAMBERLAIN: The Teaching of English (A). In The 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol, ix, pp. 161-168. 

CHAMBERS: How Words Get Meaning (A). In The Ped- 
agogical Seminary, March, 1904, vol. xi. 

CHRISMAN: The Secret Language of Children (E). In 
the Century Magazine, vol. Ivi, 1898. 

CHUBB : The Teaching of English in the Elementary and 
the Secondary School, chaps, ii, iii, vi, vii, viii, xix, (E). 
New York (1900), The Macmillan Co. 

COLLINS: The Genesis and Dissolution of the Faculty of 
Speech (A). New York (1899), The Macmillan Co. 

COLVIN : Invention versus Form in English Composition : 
An Inductive Study (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, 
vol. ix. 

COMMITTEE of Twelve of the Modern Language Associa- 
tion of America (A). Report of the U. S. Commissioners 
of Education, 1897-1898. 

CONRADI: Children's Interests in Words, Slang, Stories, 
etc., (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. x. 

CONRADI: Psychology and Pathology of Speech Develop- 
ment (A). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xi. 

CRAIG : The Development of the Dramatic Element in Edu- 
cation (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xv. 

CURTIS: The Dramatic Instinct in Education (A). In The 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xv, pp. 299-344. 

DEAHL : Imitation in Education : Its Nature, Scope, and 
Significance (A). Columbia University Contributions to 
Philosophy, Psychology, and Education. New York 
(1900). 

DEAN: The Boy of To-morrow (E). In The World's Work, 
vol. xxi, (April, 1911), p. 14282. 



XXll 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

DORAN: A Study of Vocabularies (E). In The Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, vol. xiv. 

ELDER: Aphasia and the Cerebral Speech Mechanism (A). 
London (1897), H. K. Lewis. 

GALLOP: The Boy of To-morrow (E). In The World's 
Work, vol. xxii, (May, 1911), p. 14405. 

GOUIN: The Art of Teaching and Studying Languages. 
Translated by Swan and Betis, chaps, xi, xiv, xv, (A). 
London (1892), Geo. Phillips & Son. 

HALL: What Children Read, and What They Ought to Read 
(E). National Educational Association, 1905, pp. 868-871. 

HUEY: The Psychology of Reading (A). New York 
(1910), The Macmillan Co. 

INANTZ: Problems in the Psychology of Reading (A). In 
the Psychological Review, vol. ii, No. 1, Monograph sup- 
plement. 

LUKENS: Preliminary Report on the Learning of Language 
(A). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. iii. 

PILLSBURY: The Reading of Words (A). In the Ameri- 
can Journal of Psychology, vol. xii. 

SCHERZ : The Dramatic Sense an Aid in Learning a For- 
eign Language (E). In the Elementary School Teacher, 
vol. iv, pp. 579-587. 

TERMAN: The Relation of the Manual Arts to Health 
(E). In the Popular Science Monthly, vol. Ixxviii, p. 602. 

WISSLER : The Interests of Children in the Reading Work 
of the Elementary Schools (E). In The Pedagogical 
Seminary, vol. v. 

IX 

TENDENCIES OF NOVICES IN TEACHING 

BELL: A Study of the Teacher's Influence (E). In The 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vii. 
xxiii 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

BENSON: The Personality of the Teacher (E). In the 
Educational Review, vol. xxxvii, pp. 217-230. 

BOOK : The High School Teacher from the Pupil's Point of 
View (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xii. 

BROWN: The Fine Art of Teaching (E). In the Educa- 
tional Review, vol. xvi, pp. 328-341. 

CALL: Power Through Repose (E). In the Atlantic 
Monthly, Feb., 1895. 

CHAMBERLAIN: Standards in Education, chap, x, (E). 
New York (1908), American Book Co. 

GREENWOOD: How to Judge a School (E). In the Edu- 
cational Review, vol. xvii, pp. 334-345. 

HALL: Certain Degenerative Tendencies Among Teachers 
(E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xii, pp. 454-463. 

HUGHES: Dickens as an Educator (E). New York (1901), 
International Education Series, D. Appleton & Co. 

KRATZ : Characteristics of the Best Teachers as Recognized 
by Children (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. iii. 

LARNED: An American Teacher in a Prussian Gymnasium 
(E). In the Educational Review, vol. xii, (March, 1911), 
p. 345 et seq. 

McKENNY: The Personality of the Teacher (E). Chicago 
(1911), Row, Peterson & Co. 

McTURNAN: The Personal Equation, chap, viii, (E). New 
York (1910), Atkinson, Mentzer and Grover. 

MERIAM: Recitation and Study (E). In the School Re- 
view, vol. xviii, pp. 627-633. 

O'SHEA: Teachers by the Grace of God (E). In the Jour- 
nal of Pedagogy, vol. xiii, No. 1. 

PALMER: The Teacher, chaps, i-iii, (E). Boston (1908), 
Houghton Mifflin Co. 

SCHURMAN: Self-Activity in Education (E). National 
Educational Association, 1893, pp. 703-704. 

SISSON: The Essentials of Character (E). Chap. iii. 
New York (1910), The Macmillan Co. 
xxiv 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

SNEDDEN: The New Basis of Method (E). In the Edu- 
cational Review, vol. xxxv, pp. 227-241. 

SPALDING: The Teacher and the School (E). National 
Educational Association, 1896, pp. 162-174. 

TERMAN : A Preliminary Study in the Psychology and Ped- 
agogy of Leadership (E). In The Pedagogical Seminary, 
vol. xi. 

WEST: The Personal Touch in Teaching (E). In the Edu- 
cational Reviezv, vol. xxxvi, pp. 109-120. 

WILSON: The Motivation of Children's Work in Elemen- 
tary Schools (E). National Education Association, 1910, 
pp. 418-426. 

YOUNG: Saving Time in Education (E). In the Elemen- 
tary School Teacher, vol. iv, pp. 65-72. 



THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 

ANDREWS: The Girl of To-morrow (E). In The World's 

Work, vol. xxii, (June, 1911), pp. 14526 et seq. 
ARNOLD : Cross-Purposes in the Education of Women 

(E). National Education Association, 1908, pp. 93-99. 
DRAPER: Co-Education in the United States (E). In the 

Educational Review, vol. xxv, pp. 109-129. 
HALL: Co-Education in the United States (E). National 

Educational Association, 1903, pp. 446-451. 
HAMILTON: What Kind of Education is Best Suited to 

Girls? (A). National Educational Association, 1906, pp. 

65-71. 
HOPKINS: Co-Education in the Boston Public Schools 

(E). In the Educational Reviezv, vol. i, pp. 46-48. 
HUTT: The Education of V/omen for Home-Making (A). 

National Education Association, 1910, pp. 122-132. 
SACHS: Intellectual Reactions of Co-Education (E). In 

XXV 



REFERENCES FOR READING 

the Educational Review, vol. xxxv, pp. 466-475. 

SISSON: Co-Education of the Sexes in the United States 
(E). In the Educational Review, vol. xxxviii, pp. 469- 
484. 

TERMAN : A School Where Girls are Taught Home-Mak- 
ing (E). In the Craftsman, vol. xx, p. 63 (April, 1911). 

WOOLMAN: Manhattan Trade School for Girls (E). In 
the Educational Review, vol. xxx, pp. 178-188. 



INDEX 



INDEX 

ABSTRACT MEANING, developed very slowly, 242-244. 
See Arts of Communication, Dictionary, Meaning. 

ADENOIDS, as cause of dullness and disorder, 31-32. 

ALGEBRA, as adapted to "discipline the faculties", 323-327. 

ANALYSIS, dangers of in learning to spell, 182-183; evil of 
over-emphasizing, 233-235. See Arithmetic, Drawing, 
Spelling. 

ANIMALS, illustrations from the training of, 37; illustra- 
tions from the spoiling of, 39; illustrations from the 
"breaking" of, 43. 

ARITHMETIC, dynamic method in the teaching of, 122-138; 
a concrete case of failure in arithmetic work, 122-123; 
verbal reading of problems, 123-124; correcting defective 
reasoning, 124-126; verbal study of weights and meas- 
ures, 126-127; dealing with actual units, 127-128; useful 
problems in relation to clear thinking, 128-130; problems 
should relate to actual needs and experience, 131-133; 
useful problems for the city pupil, 133-134; automatic 
facility in, 220-223; relation of reasoning in to automatic 
facility in, 231-232; making principles automatic in their 
application, 232-233; evil of over-emphasizing analysis in, 
235. 

ARTS OF COMMUNICATION, teaching of, 236-282; get- 
ting at the meaning of words, 236-237; distinction be- 
tween the child and the adult in attending to objects or 
situations, 238-240; using words or reacting upon them 
the test of meaning, 239-241; abstract meanings come 
very slowly, 241 ; acquisition of meanings by the learning 
of definitions, 242; the use of the dictionary, 242; illus- 
trations of faulty dictionary definitions, 243-244; the 
xxvii 



INDEX 

chief trouble with adult-made definitions, 244-245; learn- 
ing words in their contextual relations, 246-248; social 
basis for language learning, 248-253; language as a so- 
cial instrument, 249; the motive for acquiring expression, 
251-253; suggestions for the teacher of language, 253- 
255; inhibiting spontaneity, 254; freedom and adventure 
in expression, 254; unconventional language, 255-267; 
difference of opinion regarding unconventional speech, 
255-258; variation in different sections of the country, 
257-258; phrases in process of acquiring respectability, 
258-260; conservative people resist innovations in speech 
as in manners or dress, 260-261 ; changes taking place 
among us, 261 ; the unconventional speech of to-day may 
become the conventional speech of to-morrow, 262-264; 
attitude of the teacher toward slang, 264-266 ; youth must 
be allowed some linguistic swing, 267; naturalness in 
expression, 266-276; self-consciousness in expression, 
268-270; influence of speaking pieces on self-conscious- 
ness, 270-271; the teaching of expression, 271-272; the 
teacher's efficiency in expression, 272-273; learning rules 
about effective expression, HZ', affectation in expression, 
274; an instance of naturalness in expression, 275; learn- 
ing selections for recitation, 276-282; evil habit of mem- 
orizing, 277-278; appreciation of meaning as an aid to 
the memory, 278; an experiment in memorizing, 279- 
282. 

ATTENTION, problems of, 5-17; distraction as due to weak 
teaching, 5; futility of demanding attention, 7; influence 
of the eye upon a pupil's attention, 8-9; common sources 
of distraction in the class-room, 9-11; the influence of 
communication upon attention, 11-12; a remedy for com- 
munication, 12-13; nervous tension as a source of dis- 
traction, 13-15. 

AUDITORY DEFECTS, as cause of dullness and disorder, 
33-34. 

xxviii 



INDEX 

AUDITORY VALUES, In spelling, 18S-189. See Spelling. 

AUTOMATIC. See Drawing, Execution, Music, Spelling. 

AUTUMN, as the stormiest season of the school year for 
government, 23-24; difficulty of readjustment, 24-25; 
gradual introduction to school work, 25-26. 

BULLY, the outcome of spoiling a child, 37; how bullying 
is regarded at a later period, 43. See Discipline, Favor- 
ite Pupil, Spoiled Child. 

CAUSAL RELATIONS, failure to bind facts in, 149-151. 
See Thinking, Ability. 

CHANGING PHENOMENA, must be dealt with in real life, 
327-329. 

CHILD, the spoiled, 35-45; the unhappy child, 36; the bully, 
37; the "cunning" child, 42; the insolent child, 42; the 
favorite pupil, 46-49; children of distinguished parents, 
48-49. See Discipline. 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT, dynamic method in the teaching of, 
114-122; formal, remote teaching of vital affairs, 114— 
116; teaching the subject of taxation, 118; teaching re- 
lations of social groups, 119-121. 

COMMUNICATION, as a source of distraction, 11-12; 
feasible remedies, 12-13; as a source of conflict in the 
school-room, 93-103; the impulse to communicate, 94- 
96; communication rewarded outside the school-room, 97- 
98; how self-restraint is developed, 98; devices for sup- 
pressing communication, 100-102; leadership in the teach- 
er the chief requisite, 102-103. See Fair Play, School- 
room Government. 

CONFLICT, communication as a source of in the school- 
room, 93-103. See Attention, Communication, Discipline, 
School-room Government. 

CONTENT, relation of to means of expression, 191-192; 
exalting technique above, 193-196. See Drawing, Music, 
Reading. 

xxix 



INDEX 

CONTEST OF WITS, in school-room discipline. 72-73. See 
Fair Play. 

CONTEXTUAL RELATIONS, in the gaining of meanings, 
246-248. 

CO-OPERATION, of pupils in cases of discipline, 70-72; 
pupils can help to make rules for school government, 71 ; 
the instinct for fair dealing, 72. See Fair Play. 

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, 55-58; as practised in France 
and in Germany, with results, 55-56; soft methods in 
training, 56-58; no cure-all in discipline, 58-63. 

CORRECTION, should be individual and private for the 
most part, 89-90; should be inconspicuous, 90-92. See 
Corporal Punishment, Discipline, Success. 

DEFINITIONS. See Contextual Relations, Dictionary Mean- 
ing. 

DISCIPLINE, problems of, 35-66; the spoiled child, 35-45; 
a concrete case, 35-37; the spoiled child not happy, 36; 
the spoiled child as a bully, 37; illustrations from the 
training of a dog or a horse, 37; higher and lower tend- 
encies in human life, 38; how an animal may be spoiled, 
39; short-sightedness in the training of children, 41-43; 
the "cunning" child, 42; developing insolence, 42; how 
bullying is regarded at a later period, 43; how animals 
are "broken", 43; children must be let alone, 44-45; 
starting right, 45; the favorite pupil, 46-49; being favored 
for superficial reasons, 47-48; children of distinguished 
parents, 48-49; sentimentality in dealing with the child, 
49 ; new times bring new problems, 50-55 ; problems con- 
nected with increasing luxury and complexity of social 
life, 50-51 ; effect of social tension on the home, 51 ; elim- 
ination of masculinity in the training of children, 52-53; 
masculine vs. feminine methods in training the young, 
53 ; hypertrophy of our sensibilities, 53-55 ; corporal pun- 
ishment, 55-58; as practised in France and in Germany, 
with results, 55-56; soft methods in training, 56-58; no 

XXX 



INDEX 

cure-all in discipline, 58-63; suggestions from scientific 
medicine, 58; the charlatan in ethical training, 60; the 
prison and the whipping-post do not reform young crim- 
inals, 61 ; prophylactic vs. therapeutic measures in the 
training of the young, 62-63; from the pupil's standpoint, 
63-65; a typical case, 63-64; chief source of tragedy in 
school discipline, 64-65 ; positive methods in discipline, 
65-66. 

DISCIPLINARY PERIODS, 3. See School-room Govern- 
ment. 

DISTRACTION, as due to communication, 11-12; as due to 
nervous tension, 13-15; as due to other causes, 17-20; the 
most critical time of the year for distraction, 22-25. See 
Attention, Communication, School-room Government. 

DOMESTIC SCIENCE, instruction in, 310-313; lack of 
home atmosphere in, 322-323; concrete instance of inef- 
fective teaching, 324-327. See Girls. 

DRAWING, relation of technique to content in, 224-228; 
teaching of in an earlier day, 224-225; reproduction vs. 
representation, 225-228. 

DRILL, in spelling, 174-175; waste in drill exercises, 176. 

DULLNESS, as caused by physical defects, 29-34. See 
Adenoids, School-room Disorder. 

DYNAMIC TEACHING, essential to the development of 
clear thinking, 106-108. See Arithmetic, Civil Govern- 
ment, Geography, History, Home Study, Self -help fulness. 

ETHICAL TRAINING. See Corporal Punishment, Disci- 
pline, Favorite Pupil, Spoiled Child. 

EXECUTION, teaching pupils, 166-235 ; teaching of spelling, 
167; as a typical technical subject, 167-168; a practical 
test, 168-169; a true test, 169-170; spelling lists, 171; 
choosing words for spelling, 172-173 ; learning to spell 
words against a future time of need, 172-174; relation of 
reading to spelling, 174; harmful drill in spelling, 174- 
175; waste in drill exercises, 176; an erroneous method 
xxxi 



INDEX 

of teaching spelling, 177-178; confusion in dealing with 
complex unities, 179-180; syllabication in spelling, 180- 
181; dangers in the analysis of words, 182-183; words as 
unities, 183 ; evil habits of study, 184-185 ; wasteful meth- 
ods of preparing lessons, 185-187; attempting too big a 
task at one time, 187-188; auditory familiarity in spelling, 
188-189; a lesson from Italy, 189-191; relation of means 
of expression to content to be expressed, 191-192; rela- 
tion of legibility in writing to "neatness," 192-193 ; a con- 
crete case of exalting technique above content, 193-196; 
instruction in technique, 196-198; nervous overstrain 
from too great emphasis on technique, 198-201; develop- 
ing ideas of lightness and rapidity in the place of power 
and effort, 201-203; relation of technique to content in 
music, 204-224; a concrete case of undue emphasis on 
technique, 204-205; exaltation of technique in singing, 
205-206; learning elementary facts of technique, 207-208; 
development of an appreciation of rhythm, 208-209; gen- 
eral motor before special vocal execution, 209-210; action 
songs, 211; songs which children choose spontaneously, 
211-212; songs portraying ethical and ideal feelings 
not chosen until adolescence, 212-215; formal and me- 
chanical vocal music, 213-214; relation between learn- 
ing to read words and learning to read music, 215- 
217; begin with largest units possible, 217-219; 
reading musical symbols at sight, 219-220; im- 
portance of the simplest musical elements, 220-221; 
smaller unities must not be neglected, 222; illustra- 
tion of confusion from attacking too complex unities, 
222-224; relation of technique to content in drawing, 224- 
228; teaching of in an earlier day, 224-225; reproduction 
vs. representation, 225-228; automatic facility in a subject 
like arithmetic, 228-230; relation of reasoning to facility 
in executing, 231-232; making the application of princi- 

xxxii 



INDEX 

pies automatic, 232-233; evil of over-emphasizing analy- 
sis, 233-235. 

EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS, 341-388; good order, 341- 
344; discipline, 344-348; fair play between teacher and 
pupils, 348-352; teaching pupils to think, 352-365; teach- 
ing pupils to execute, 365-372; teaching the arts of com- 
munication, 372-376; tendencies of novices in teaching, 
Z76-Z^6; education of girls, 386-388. 

FAILURE, avoid feelings of in school-room, 86-89. See 
Correction, Fair Play, Success. 

FAIR PLAY, in the school-room, 67-103; a typical case in- 
volving the principle, 67-72 ; cooperation of pupils in cases 
of discipline, 70-72; pupils can help to make rules for 
school government, 71 ; the instinct for fair dealing, 72 ; 
challenging pupils to a contest of wits in discipline, 72- 
73) appeaHng to the sense of fair play, 73-74; group 
loyalty, 7A-76; attitude of the group toward "tattling," 
74; dealing with the group as a whole, 75-76; gaining the 
respect of pupils, 76-81 ; how a teacher may lose the 
respect of pupils, 77-79; gaining the assistance of capable 
pupils, 80; school-room injustice as a cause of disre- 
spect, 81-85; expecting the impossible of pupils, 82; pun- 
ishment for unavoidable mistakes, ^2) ; teaching pupils ac- 
cording to their needs, 85 ; establishing feelings of success 
rather than of failure, 86-89; making correction individual 
and private for the most part, 89-90; making correction 
inconspicuous, 90-92; communication as a source of con- 
flict in the school-room, 93-103; the impulse to communi- 
cate, 94-96; communication rewarded outside the school- 
room, 97-98; how self-restraint is developed, 98; the best 
way to control communication, 99-100; futile devices for 
suppressing communication, 100-102; leadership in the 
teacher the chief requisite, 102-103. 

FEMININE METHODS, in training the young, 53. See 
Discipline, Sentimentality. 

xxxiii 



INDEX 

FLOGGING, frequent in the olden-time school, 4. See 
School-room Government. 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE, in a girl's education, 329-330. See 
Girls. 

GEOGRAPHY, d\Tiamic method in teaching, 140-141; diffi- 
culties in mathematical geography, 147-149; failure to 
bind facts in causal relations, 149-151; a good subject for 
effective teaching, 153-154. 

GIRLS, the education of, 309-338; a new educational experi- 
ment station, 309-310; a home-maker's course, 310-313; 
development of a home atmosphere, 313; education for 
training merely, 314-316; failure of the traditional high- 
school course to prepare the girl for real life, 315-316; 
vital studies arouse interest, 317; movement for vital ed- 
ucation spreading, 318; instance of mere formal learning 
of matters pertaining to the home, 318-320; the lack of 
a home atmosphere in much domestic science instruction, 
320; the problem of the ages, 322-323; the curriculum 
based on formal discipline, 323-324; a test of the doctrine 
of formal training, 324-327 ; real life requires dealing with 
changing phenomena, 327-329; studying foreign language, 
329-330; training in the humanities, 331-332; a course for 
the girl of to-morrow, 332-338. 

GOOD ORDER, the importance of, 1-2 ; essential to a healthy 
tone in a school, 2; emphasized by parents and school 
officers, 2; good order in the olden-time school, 2-3. See 
Attention, Disorder, Distraction, Dullness, Flogging, Irri- 
tants, Physical Defects, Relaxation Periods, School-room 
Government, Stormiest Season, Vacation. 

GOVERNMENT. See School-room Government. 

GROUP, loyalty of the individual to the, 74-76; attitude of 
the group toward "tattling," 74; dealing with the group 
as a whole, 75-76. See Discipline, Fair Play, School- 
room Government. 

GUIDING, vs. Helping pupils, 164-165. 
xxxiv 



INDEX 

HELPING. See Guiding, Initiative. 

HISTORY, d3aiamic method in the teaching of, 108-114; 
formal exactness vs. effective thinking, 109-110; facts 
that relate to every-day life, 111-112; heroes of peace as 
well as of war, 113. 

HOME ATMOSPHERE, development of, 313; lack of in 
much domestic science instruction, 320. 

HOME-MAKER'S COURSE, 310-313. See Girls. 

HUMANITIES, training in, 331-332. 

HUMOR, in the school-room, 305-308. See Novices. 

IMPERIOUS TEACHER, 303. See Novices. 

INACCURACY, in thinking, 135; self-correction in inaccu- 
rate work, 137-138, 

INITIATIVE, teaching pupils to take, 154-155; concrete 
illustrations, 135-137; home study by pupils in relation to 
taking the initiative, 158-163; methods of "helping" a 
child, 159-162; teaching to satisfy formal requirements, 
161-164. 

INJUSTICE, in the school-room, 81-85; cause of disrespect, 
82; demanding the impossible of pupils, 82-83; punish- 
ment for unavoidable mistakes, 83. 

INSOLENCE, the development of in the spoiled child, 42. 
See Discipline, Spoiled Child. 

INTEREST, aroused by vital studies, 317. See Arithmetic, 
Civil Government, Drawing, Geography, Girls, History, 
Music, Spelling, Thinking Ability. 

IRRITANTS, as causes of dullness and disorder, 23-24, 30- 
33. See Adenoids, Autumn, Teeth. 

ITALY, a lesson from respecting relation of content to form 
in teaching, 189-191. See Drawing, Spelling. 

LEADERSHIP, as the chief requisite in the teacher, 102-103. 
See Communication, Conflict, Injustice. 

LECTURING, the need of effective, 295 ; the teacher should 
put his own personality into his teaching, 297. 

LEGIBILITY, relation of to neatness in writing, 192-193. 
XXXV 



INDEX 

LIGHTNESS, developing ideas of in the place of power and 
effort, 201-203. 

MASCULINITY, in the training of children, 52-53. See 
Discipline. 

MEANING, of words, 236-237; a true test of understanding 
of, 239-241; abstract meanings, 241; acquisition of by 
the use of the dictionary, 242; faulty definitions, 243-244; 
adult-made definitions, 242-245; getting at meanings from 
contextual relations, 246-248; appreciation of as an aid 
in memory, 278. 

MEANS OF EXPRESSION, relation to content to be ex- 
pressed, 191-192; instruction in, 196-198. See Content, 
Drawing, Music, Nervous Overstrain, Reading. 

MEMORIZING SELECTIONS, experiments in, 279-282. 
See Meaning. 

MEMORY, relation! of clear thinking to, 139-140; results of 
obscure teaching, 140-141 ; actual execution in relation to 
memory, 143-144. 

MUSIC, relation of technique to content in, 204-224; exalta- 
tion of technique in singing, 205-206; elementary facts of 
technique, 207-208; appreciation of rhythm, 208-209; gen- 
eral before special execution, 209-210; action songs first, 
211; songs which children choose spontaneously, 211- 
212; songs that are chosen late in development, 212-215; 
formal work in vocal music, 213-214; reading linguistic 
symbols vs. reading musical symbols, 215-217; begin with 
the largest unities possible, 217-219; reading musical 
symbols at sight, 219-220; values of elementary units in 
music, 220-221; smaller unities must not be neglected, 
222; confusion from dealing with too complex unities, 
222-224. 

NARROWNESS IN TEACHING. See Novices. 

NATURALNESS, in expression, 266-276; self-consciousness, 
268-270; value of speaking pieces, 270-271; the teaching 

xxxvi 



INDEX 

of expression, 271-272; value of learning rules, 273; af- 
fectation in expression, 274. 
NECESSITY, the spur to clear thinking, 105-107. See Arith- 
metic, Civil Government, Dynamic Teaching, Geography, 
History, Initiative, Self-helpfulness, Thinking Ability. 

NERVOUS OVERSTRAIN, from too great emphasis upon 
technique, 198-201. 

NEUTRAL TEACHER. See Novices, 

NOVICES, tendencies of in teaching, 283-308; lack of ade- 
quate conception of what a high school should accomplish, 
283; special and technical work too early, 284; "shooting 
over the heads'* of pupils, 285; spiritless teaching, 285; 
vital vs. formal teaching, 287; reliance upon definitions in 
teaching, 287; narrowness of view, 288; inaccurate knowl- 
edge, 289; lack of self -activity in pupils, 290; dynamic vs. 
static attitudes, 292; inability to arouse appropriate re- 
action, 293; the neutral teacher, 294; the need of effective 
lecturing, 295 ; the teacher should put his own personality 
into his teaching, 297; the quiz-master, 298-299; formal 
rules made to cover too many cases, 300-301 ; the teacher 
who lacks authorit)^, 301-303; the imperious teacher, 303; 
making too great haste in the class-room, 202-204; humor 
in the school-room, 305-308. 

ORDER. See Good Order. 

PHYSICAL DEFECTS, as cause of dullness and disorder, 29- 
34. See Adenoids, Aiiditory Defects, Visual Defects. 

POSITIVE METHODS, in all discipline, 65-66. See Cor- 
poral Punishment, Discipline, Prison. 

PRISON, in reforming young criminals, 61 ; the whipping- 
post in reforming young criminals, 61 ; prophylactic meas- 
ures in the training of the young, 62-63. 

PROBLEMS. See Exercises and Problems. 

PROPHYLACTIC MEASURES. See Positive Methods, 
Prison. 

QUIZ-MASTER, 298-299. See Novices. 
xxxvli 



INDEX 

RAPIDITY, developing ideas of in the place of power and 
effort, 201-203. 

READING, relation of to spelling, 174. See Spelling. 

READJUSTMENT, difficult in the autumn after vacation, 
24-25. See Autumn, Vacation. 

RELAXATION PERIODS, as means of releasing nervous 
tensions, 15-17. See Communication, School-room Gov- 
ernment. 

REPRESENTATION. See Drawing. 

REPRODUCTION. See Drawing. 

RESPECT, of pupils for the teacher, 76-81 ; losing the respect 
of pupils, 77-79; using the abilities of capable pupils, 80; 
injustice in the school-room as a cause of disrespect, 81- 
85; demanding the impossible of pupils, 82; penalties for 
unavoidable mistakes, ^?). See Discipline, Fair Play, Good 
Order, School-room Government. 

RESPECTABILITY, in language, 258-260. See Unconven- 
tional Language. 

RHYTHM, development of an appreciation of, 208-209. See 
Music, Songs. 

SCHOOL-ROOM GOVERNMENT, 1-34; importance of 
good order, 1-2 ; methods of an earlier day, 2-3 ; disciplin- 
ary periods, 3; effect upon pupils, 3; a different tone in 
the school of to-day, 3; factors which have produced a 
new regime, 4-5 ; problems of attention, 5-17 ; weak teach- 
ing the cause of disorder, 5; futility of commanding at- 
tention, 7; conditions which favor distraction, 7; influence 
of the eye upon a pupil's attention, 8-9; common sources 
of confusion in the class-room, 9-11 ; communication as 
a source of distraction, 11-12; feasible remedies, 12-13; 
nervous tension as a source of distraction, 13-15 ; frequent 
relaxation periods imperative, 15-17; inhibiting power pro- 
duced by fatigue, 17; a concrete case of a disorderly 
school, 17-20; influence of the teacher's health on pupils' 
conduct, 18-19; the teacher's need to relax, 20-22; fresh- 
xxxviii 



INDEX 

ness and buoyancy in the teacher necessary to a healthy 
tone in the school, 22; the critical season of the year for 
school-room government, 22-25; irritating influences dur- 
ing the first weeks of autumn, 23-24; the difficulty of re- 
adjustment, 24-25 ; gradual introduction to school work in 
the autumn, 25-26; problem of vacation, 26-29; a shorter 
school-day but a longer school year, 27-28; physical de- 
fects as causes of disorder, 29-34; the effect of decaying 
teeth, 30-31; the effect of adenoids, 31-32; description of 
concrete cases, 32-33; influence of visual and auditory de- 
fects, 33-34. 

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS, in expression, 268-270. See Nat- 
uralness. 

SELF-HELPFULNESS. See Initiative. 

SENTIMENTALITY, in dealing with the child, 49; elimina- 
tion of masculinity in the training of children, 52; mas- 
culine vs. feminine methods in training the young, 53; 
hypertrophy of our sensibilities, 53-55; corporal punish- 
ment, 55-58; soft methods in training, 56-58. 

SINGING. See Music. 

SLANG. See Unconventional Language. 

SOCIAL BASIS, of language learning, 248-253; language as 
a social instrument, 244-249 ; motive for acquiring expres- 
sion, 251-253. 

SONGS, action, 211; which children choose spontaneously, 
211-212; portraying ethical and ideal feelings, 212-215. 
See Music. 

SPEAKING PIECES. See Naturalness. 

SPELLING, the teaching of, 167; as a typical technical sub- 
ject, 168; a practical test, 189; a true test of ability to 
spell, 169-170 ; spelling lists, 171 ; choosing lists of words, 
172-173 ; learning spelling for future needs, 172-174 ; read- 
ing vs. spelling, 174; carrying drill too far in spelling, 
174-176; a wasteful method of teaching spelling, 177-178; 
waste in attacking too complex unities, 179-180 ; syllabica- 
xxxix 



INDEX 

tion, 180-181 ; analyzing words, 182-183 ; spelling words as 
unities, 183; wasteful habits of study, 184-187; too long 
lessons, 187-188; the ear as an aid in spelling, 188-189. 

SPIRITLESS TEACHING. See Novices. 

SPOILED CHILD, 35-45; a concrete case, 35-38; how the 
spoiled child is made unhappy, 36 ; development of a bully, 
37 ; illustrations from the training of a dog or a horse, 37 ; 
how an animal may be spoiled, 39; short-sightedness in 
training a child, 41-43; danger of spoiling the "cunning" 
child, 42 ; how insolence may be developed, 42 ; how bully- 
ing is regarded at a later period, 43 ; "breaking" an animal, 
43; letting the child alone, 44-45. 

SPONTANEITY, in the use of language, 254. See Arts of 
Communication, Unconventional Language. 

SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITIES, necessary in the school- 
room, 4. See School-room Government. 

STUDY, evil habits in, 184-185; waste in preparing lessons, 
185-187. 

SUCCESS, establishing feelings of, 86; making school-room 
correction individual and inconspicuous, 89-92; having the 
tone of success rather than of failure dominate the school- 
room, 90-92. 

SYLLABICATION, in spelling, 180-181. See Spelling. 

TEETH, decaying, as causes of distraction and disorder, 
30-31. 

THE FAVORITE PUPIL, 46-49; tragedy of a child being 
favored for superficial reasons, 49; children of distin- 
guished parents, 48-49. See Discipline, Spoiled Child. 

THERAPEUTIC MEASURES, in the training of the young, 
62-63. 

THINKING ABILITY, development of in pupils, 104-165; 
the chief topic in present-day educational discussions, 104 ; 
the spur to clear thinking, 105-107; dynamic teaching 
essential to, 106; the test of a good method, 107; under- 
standing vs. reciting, 107-108; the test applied to a his- 
xl 



INDEX 

tory lesson, 108-114; formal exactness vs. effective think- 
ing, 109-110; dealing with facts that relate to every-day 
life, 111-112; teaching heroes of peace as well as of war, 
113; the test applied to teaching of civil government, 114- 
122; formal, remote treatment of vital affairs, 114-116; a 
concrete case of a dynamic method, 116-118; thinking 
straight on the subject of taxation, 118; tracing govern- 
mental relations in social groups, 119-121; test applied to 
teaching arithmetic, 122-138; failure of a typical pupil in 
his arithmetic work, 122-123 ; mere verbal reading of prob- 
lems, 123-124; an experiment in correcting defective rea- 
soning, 124-126; verbal study of weights and measures, 
126-127; dealing with actual units, 127-128; useful prob- 
lems in relation to clear thinking, 128-130; problems 
should relate to actual needs and experience, 131-133; 
useful problems for the city pupil, 133-134; the cure for 
inaccurate thinking, 135; self-correction of inaccurate 
work, 137-138; the relation of clear thinking to a good 
memory, 139-140; concrete instance of obscure teaching, 
140-141; another method of procedure, 141-143; actual 
execution essential to clear thinking, 143-144; test applied 
in geography, 144-151; difficulties in mathematical geog- 
raphy, 147-149; failure to bind facts in causal relations, 
149-151; a good subject for effective teaching, 153-154; 
teaching pupils to take the initiative, 154-155; concrete 
illustration, 155-157; home study by pupils and training 
in self-helpfulness, 158-163; the typical parent's method 
of "helping" a child, 159-162; teaching to satisfy formal 
requirements only, 162-164; guiding vs. helping pupils, 
164-165. 
UNCONVENTIONAL LANGUAGE, 255-267; tests regard- 
ing unconventionality of special phrases, 255-258; varia- 
tions in different localities, 257-258; phrases in process of 
acquiring respectability, 258-260; attitude of conservative 
people toward, 260-261; changes taking place among us, 
xli 



INDEX 

261; how unconventional becomes conventional speech, 
262-264; attitude of the teacher toward slang, 264-266; 
giving youth its linguistic swing, 266-267. 

UNITIES, relation of simple to more complex in teaching 
spelling, 179-183; in the teaching of music, 217-219; im- 
portance of the smaller unities, 222; confusion from at- 
tacking too large unities, 222-224. 

VACATION, problems of, 6-29; a shorter school-day but a 
longer school year, 27-28. See Autumn, Readjustment. 

VISUAL DEFECTS, as cause of dullness and disorder, 33-34. 

VITAL EDUCATION. See Arithmetic, Civil Government, 
Drawing, Geography, Girls, History, Music, Spelling, 
Thinking Ability. 



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